Broken Hero
by Talo12Books
Summary: A teenage vigilante moves into Kim's neighborhood. A psychopath mob boss uses the world as his twisted playground. An assassin and seductress ally themselves with a super villain. A shadowy paramilitary organization orchestrating several world governments. Faced with dead ends, teen vigilante Sebastian Layton must rely on new allies to uncover a plot that may destroy the world.
1. Chapter 1

**This is technically a crossover with my upcoming CGI series "The Antiheroes". But since it is not released yet, I am placing it in the non-crossover section as "The Antiheroes" doesn't exist on here.**

**NOTE: "Kim Possible" and all characters, (fictional) locations, etc. are copyright The Walt Disney Company**

"**The Antiheroes" and all characters, locations, etc. are copyright Talo12Productions**

**(All rights go to the respective companies. No money is being made on this whatsoever. This is protected under The Copyright Act of 1976 17 USC § 107 - Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair Use)**

**Broken Hero**

**Chapter 1**

The rain poured hard upon the two teens sneaking through the Colorado Rockies to a cave up ahead. The two teens, the world famous Kim Possible and easily forgotten Ron Stoppable, entered the cave to escape the rain. They began to walk deeper into the cave. They were headed to stop the evil Dr. Drakken from taking over the world again. The cave was the entrance to his new lair after Ron hit the self-destruct on the last one. As they walked further into the cave, a lack of hidden traps became apparent. Kim walked on the left side of the cave and Ron meandered between the left and the right side of the cave.

"Hey KP, take a look at this," Ron said, calling Kim to where he was standing on the right side of the tunnel. Kim approached where Ron was.

"What is it Ron?" Kim asked. Ron pointed to the markings on the wall. It looked like an oblong hammer hit the wall in multiple places in somewhat of a line across the wall.

"What do you think these marks are?" Ron asked.

"I dunno, perhaps some kind of fight happened," Kim answered. Before she could say anymore, she heard Ron kick something on the ground. Looking down, she saw spent shells. Kim reached down and picked up the spent 44.70 mm long casing. Looking at the wall, Ron could see a scorch mark a little ways down. Kim's eyes widened as she realized that the shell still felt a little warm.

"Uhmm...Kim?" Ron said, promptly getting cut off by Kim.

"Not now Ron." Kim continued to study the spent casing. Ron shrieked. Kim looked up to see one of Drakken's henchmen crawl around the corner, arm reaching out towards Ron, as Ron backed away from the injured henchman. As the henchman fully rounded the corner, Kim froze in horror. The henchman continued to crawl towards the teen heroes, moaning in pain. The henchman used his arms to pull himself forward, a trail of blood was left behind him as he crawled. Broken tibia bones protruded out of his skin, through his calves. Upon seeing this, Ron immediately lost his lunch. Kim continued to stare in horror for a few moments before losing her lunch too. The henchman stopped crawling as he was too exhausted from bloodloss to continue.

"Wh-What happened to you?" Kim asked. The henchman stared at the ground for a few seconds, breathing heavily, before acknowledging her question.

"He-He came out of no where," the henchman said, pausing to take a deep breath before continuing, "Next thing anyone knew, fellow henchmen were dropping around us like flies...Right before each person dropped, there was a loud bang, like a truck backfiring in your ears." The henchman stopped talking to catch his breath.

"When it stopped, I felt someone grab my arms. And then my legs gave way underneath me. I then felt something...smash into my face. Then I woke up alone, not even those who had fallen around me were there. At first I thought I was dead, but in death wouldn't I have been able to feel my legs?..And that's when I saw you two," he finished, collapsing out of exhaustion.

"Where is he now?" Kim asked. The henchman weakly pointed the way he came.

"Come on Ron," Kim said, running past the nearly dead henchman. Ron quickly followed suit, trying not to lose his lunch again.

Several minutes later, through blood spattered halls and past piles of corpses of Drakken's henchmen, Kim and Ron reached the main chamber of the lair. Upon entering, they saw the room was covered in bullet holes. Some corpses of henchmen scatter the room. A terrified Drakken was hunched over in the corner. In the middle of the room, Shego was engaged in hand-to-hand combat with an adversary that Kim could not identify. The adversary wore Navy Flight Deck boots, black jeans, black trench coat, and a black t-shirt with a Kevlar vest over it. The adversary wore leather gloves with a replica of the bones of the human hand over the back. The adversary wore a mask of a human skull, but the teeth on it were elongated and sharpened and the nasal bone was flat to the mask. The eye sockets had mesh in them to prevent you from seeing the eyes. As Ron entered the room, he tripped over one of the henchmen's arms, causing the two in hand-to-hand combat glance over at the teen heroes standing in the doorway.

"You need to be more careful Ron," Kim told her sidekick and friend.

"Sorry," Ron apologised, standing up.

"I think it is time to end this confrontation," the masked man said to the green villainess he currently clashed with. He jumped and flipped backwards, landing a good five feet from the villainess. He then pulled a small ball from his pocket and lit a fuse that stuck out of it. He dropped it on the ground. It then exploded into a cloud of smoke that began to fill the room. Kim and Ron coughed as the smoke entered their lungs as they inhaled. Kim squinted trying to keep the smoke out of her eyes. Out of the smoke, a figure approached. It was the one who was fighting Shego. He walked by Kim, stopping beside her. Kim glanced over at him, curious about him. He continued to stare straight ahead, from what Kim could tell. The masked man grunted in disgust before continuing past the teens. Kim turned around to face the masked man but when she did, he was gone.

"Hey, where did he go?" Ron asked. Kim stared at the now empty cave entrance. The smoke began to clear. Kim turned back to the lair. With the smoke clearing, Kim saw most of the equipment was damaged beyond repair. Kim needed to find this masked man. Shego vigorously looked around for the man she was just fighting. She then spotted Kim. Shego ignited plasma around her hands.

"I'm not in the mood for this Princess!" Shego yelled at Kim positioning herself for a fight.

"Then today is your lucky day Shego," Kim said.

"Come on Ron," Kim said turning and leaving, Ron behind her. As Kim ran back the way she came, Shego let the plasma extinguish and let her arms slowly fall to her side. Today just kept getting weirder for Shego. It started with another doomed-to-fail plan from Drakken. Instead of Kim showing up to stop them as usual, a masked man walked right through the front door, dropping the henchmen and destroying Drakken's latest plot. Then Kim shows up and doesn't want to fight her. What's next? The sidekick confessing his love to the villainess? At this point Shego knew that anything could happen next.

-Elsewhere-

A teen walked out of the room under his stairs. His name is Sebastian Layton. He is seventeen. He has flat, slicked back, black hair that barely touches his shoulders, and a standard goatee that adorns his face. His eyes are that of a deep blue. He wears contacts but keeps a pair of glasses on him just in case. He is built like a linebacker. And he has enrolled to attend Middleton High School this year. He then went up the stairs and into his study. He searched the bookshelves for an ample book to read. He found "A Song of Fire and Ice". He had read these books probably one hundred times, they were his favorite. He pulled "A Game of Thrones", the first in the series, out of the collection to begin to read it again. As he sits down in the chair in his study, the telephone rings. He sighed, set the book down on the study table, and got up. He swiftly makes his way down the stairs, to the phone.

"Hello?" he answered as calm as possible.

"Hey, you get bored of Upperton High School already?" a female voice answered.

"Why are you calling?" Sebastian answered, grunting in annoyance.

"You did a great job on that but could have been a little more tactful on your exit," she said.

"I couldn't risk the third party getting involved, too dangerous. Stop following me around," he replied.

"Try and stop me," the female dared.

"Goodbye," Sebastian said through gritted teeth, quickly hanging up the phone. Sebastian rubbed his temple. He hated her calling him like that, he could get made. And for someone who is able to literally get inside your mind, and make you cause physical harm to yourself, she wasn't using her talents to the fullest. Sebastian felt that she gave up her talent when she gave up her name back when The Heroes disbanded. She became someone she wasn't, her alias, Barbara Slater. Psychic Girl was no more.

But something big was happening, and Barbara would take up her name again. Last night, someone killed a former masked hero. The only evidence left at the scene was an ace of clubs playing card. This was the third former hero that was killed this month. For a man with no fear, Sebastian feared what would happen if enough heroes were killed. Perhaps one would lash out, and cause mass devastation, being speaking, of course, of H-Bomb. A former Hero, he became unstable after The Ban, threatening to go off at any minute. Temporarily, they solved the problem by sending him to Groom Lake. This won't last forever though.

Thinking on it, Sebastian noticed a trend, the heroes killed were ones who worked for the government, more specifically the CIA, after the ban. Whoever is killing the heroes is definitely looking for something from the CIA.

The ace playing card is a modus operandi of a gang leader named Ace. He ran with a mob organization before The Ban that called themselves The Flush. They consisted of Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and Ten. Ace was the apparent leader of the group, but King always had his own agenda. When The Ban came around, The Flush finally split up. Ace disappeared. King and Queen are still active. Jack quit the gang business and went completely straight, not taking any money or help from illicit sources. From what is known, Ten committed suicide, the depression and meth finally got to him. He apparently blew his brains out in front of the police precinct. No one, to date, has come forward as a witness to it though.

Sebastian went back upstairs, to his study. It had been a long day for him. At this point, he just wanted to read until he falls asleep. Sebastian sat down in his chair in the study and grabbed the book from the table. He would investigate more on the playing card tomorrow. He opened the book. The title on the page read, "Prologue".


	2. Chapter 2

**Welcome back readers. I hope you enjoyed the last chapter because here is another.**

**Remember to check my profile for reference links to my stories, including this one.**

**Broken Hero**

**Chapter 2**

The ARMOR Corporation, the single largest military agency in the world.

They are the precursor to the group Global Justice. Well, more like the inspiration. They ran pretty much everything. They were the ones who organized The Heroes, a collective of heroes including Barbara Slater, Psychic Girl, and Sebastian Layton, The Skull. After The Ban, they became more shady, dealing contracts to groups and individuals such as W.E.E. and Professor Dementor. They still went after villains, just those who posed a serious threat. They see those like Dementor and Drakken as basically lame antiheroes who pose no threat. They are the reason that no one knows that superheroes actually exist and live among the general population.

Their agents are trained to their peak and then past that, with the aid of performance enhancing drugs created especially for the purpose of enhancing the muscles of the agents of the ARMOR Corporation. They wear slim, black, bulletproof armor. They wear military helmets, with attachable respirators that are reminiscent of a paint respirator. The helmets also had Special Forces style night vision goggles attached. All of the candidates for agents were hand selected at the age of five.

The decision was made by a program created by John Schräder, the hero Black Diamond. His name derives from the program known commonly as The Black Diamond OS. It was not an operating system per se, as it was a hacking tool. The most advanced hacking tool since the Enigma machine in the 1940s. The algorithm that found the candidates searches for certain chemicals in the body that are present in a few, most do not have this. These chemicals are ones that allow not only the body, but the mind as well, to be pushed further than normal human limitations and survive with astounding results.

Jack Vallance, Director of ARMOR and former MACV J-SOG commander during Vietnam, is six foot three and swiftly approaching age seventy. His uniform is the same one from Vietnam with the word "ARMOR" stitched across the back. He has a Colt M1911 holstered to his hip and usually carries around his old M14 from his military days. He is also like a father figure to the two young Heroes, Sebastian and Barbara. He hates when people get in his way.

* * *

><p>Dr. Betty Director walked down the hall to her office after a long day. She needed to fill out the day's paperwork. As she approached the door, she noticed light gleaming from underneath it. She slowly opened the door to see a man staring at the wall of various pictures behind her desk. The back of his uniform had the word "ARMOR" stitched across it. He did not seem to notice her as she stepped slowly inside the office, ensuring not to make a sound.<p>

"While you're doing all that sneaking around, ensure to close the door," a deep voice said, continuing to stare at the wall. Feeling there was no point in sneaking up on him any more, Betty closed the door casually. The man quietly chuckled.

"Can I help you?" Betty asked. The man slowly turned around. Betty was surprised to see that the man looked to be in his late sixties. Light shined on his face seemingly intensifying his scowl. His grey hair lay flat and straight on his head. He had a scar on the left side of his Adam's apple that appeared to be from an old bullet wound.

"No," he said. Betty raised an eyebrow at this. She supposed that one of the GJ agents had let him in, but now she was not sure.

"But you can listen," he continued taking a brief pause, "I don't care what cases you take pertaining to your local villains like Drakken or Dementor. But I take issue when you step on my toes and take my cases." He walked towards her, passing her desk.

"I do not know what you are talking about," Betty said, as the man stopped just passed her desk. The light illuminated his name patch on his chest. It said, "Vallance". He picked up some folders off of her desk and walked over to her, handing her the folders.

"Two weeks ago, New York City. You picked up a woman most likely going by the name of Amanda," Vallance said. Betty looked through the folders' contents. They were of pictures of the operation to catch a villainess in NYC a few weeks back. Then, on the picture of the villain going by the alias of Amanda being arrested, she realized she had seen the officer that was putting the villainess into the police car before. She flipped through the other photos. He was in the background of every single one. The person in question was a skinny man with brown, shoulder length hair and square glasses.

"I do not come here to ask for her back because the look of realization on your face tells me that you know that she never made it back to your prison. What I want is for you to stay away from the major league villain cases. There is a list of cases you can take at the end of the bottom folder," Vallance continued. Betty flipped to the end of the last folder. The list of cases were of the villains Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable usually handled.

"You can't seriously expect me to follow this with more serious threats out there," Betty retorted. Vallance's eye twitched once, and he began swiftly closing the space between them. Betty backed up until she her back hit the wall, not knowing what he was going to do. Even then, he only stopped when their faces were barely six inches apart.

"I expect you to follow it to the letter. And if you don't, I will have my agents raid this place and then burn it to the fucking ground. This will help remind you," Vallance said, before swiftly punching Betty in the gut. Betty did not see the punch coming and doubled over in pain as she felt her breath leave her and not return, and her abdomen feel strained to the point that it felt like it would tear like tissue paper if she moved. He was strong, seemingly too strong for a man in his late sixties. As she fell, Vallance took a step back so Betty would not fall on him. Vallance watched her as she gasped for air, no emotion on his face. After a few moments of watching her gasp for air and squirm on the ground, he walked to the door to her office, stopping in the doorway.

"I hope you remember our little chat, I will be watching closely. Oh, and the same rules apply for those teen heroes, Kimberly Possible and Ronald Stoppable. Don't think the danger is lessened for them because they are young. These villains do not care. They won't hold back on them. They'll kill them if they get a chance," Vallance said before leaving and shutting the door behind him. Betty continued to struggle on the ground, finally regaining her breath slowly.

-New York City, New York-

A man sat behind a desk, looking at papers on the desk. His face was draped in shadow, a hockey mask, with a King playing card painted on it, sat on the desk next to the papers and a loaded Glock 19. Straight, shoulder length, golden hair framed his face. It was curled outward at his shoulders. He slowly nodded his head as he read the reports. He looked up to a rather nervous man standing in the room. His eyes repeatedly darted to the loaded handgun that sat on the desk, pointed at him.

"How quickly can this be mobilized?" the man behind the desk asked.

"At the crack of dawn," the man standing in front of the desk replied. The golden haired man chuckled.

"What, do the Mexican cartels have nothing better to do than wait on me hand and foot?" he asked, laughingly, before he putting on a serious face, "How much of this shit did they even make?" The standing man hesitated, not knowing if the question was rhetorical or not.

"Seven hundred kilos," the standing man replied. The golden hair man paused for a second, taking in the information.

"Holy shit! How am I supposed to move that much meth?" the golden haired man said, "See if you can buy a lair in Colorado from that blue idiot who is prancing around on T.V. all the time. And if he doesn't pay, kill him. And if that green bitch gets in the way, kill her too."

"Right away sir," the standing man said, swiftly leaving.

"Prep one of my jets to take me down there tonight when you are done," the golden haired man called after the one who just left.

"Seven hundred kilos of meth? I don't know if I'll even be able to sell enough of it to make a profit," the golden haired man said to himself, "I'll find a way to sell it all. After all, my name isn't King for nothing." He smiled wickedly.

-Morning-

-Middleton-

Sebastian sat in his seat during class, staring at the wall and tuning out the teacher, waiting for the lunch bell. His first day at Middleton High School had not been so bad. He had gotten his schedule from an overly cheerful school counselor and saw that he had US History first hour, a topic he already had a decent coverage of from his time with ARMOR's academy program. The academy was shut down due to Jack Vallance, the director of ARMOR, executing a bunch of instructors for "traitorous activities," in front of the student body.

Sebastian also found that he obtained a locker next to Kim Possible, the one he did not wish to share that close of space with. He also found that even though not associated with Kim, a girl named Bonnie labelled her as part of Kim's group, therefore a loser in her eyes. Sebastian did not mind this. It meant that not as many people would expect him to secretly be a dangerous vigilante. The association caused the teen heroine to notice the new kid at the locker next to her. His barely shoulder length hair was slicked back in the back while the rest was seemingly unkempt and splayed across his face, giving him an almost eerie feeling to him.

-Earlier, before first hour-

"I hope you enjoy your time at Middleton High," the counselor said in an overly cheery voice as Sebastian left his office. Sebastian wanted to make the counselor regret his cheery tone, but he needed to not get kicked out of this school after leaving on not so great of terms with his previous school. Sebastian closed the door behind him and uttered a "fuck you too" as soon as he was sure the door was closed all the way. He looked at his schedule. US History was his first hour, a class he could sleep through and pass with flying colors. He looked for his locker number. Finding it, he proceeded down the hallway until he found his locker. When he found it, he entered the lock code that was on the sheet of paper. He unloaded his textbooks from his backpack into his locker. As he unloaded some "personal effects" into the locker, there was a short three beeps in his ear, a notice that John was calling him. He pulled out his touchscreen phone from his pocket and tapped the answer button on the screen. John's face appeared shortly.

"This is a really bad time to call John," Sebastian said. The image on the screen sighed.

"I would not be calling you if it was not important," John said through the earpiece, "You remember when Global Justice busted Queen a couple weeks ago in New York City?" John took his ever present cigarette out of his mouth and blew out some smoke before putting it back in.

"Yes. And, as I recall, you had something to do with her disappearance from their custody," Sebastian replied.

"Guilty as charged," John continued, "It seems that since then, King has stepped up. He is headed your way, bringing a shitton of meth with him."

"It'll be easy. I ruin the meth and he goes broke. It will end his empire," Sebastian said before looking to his left and becoming surprised, "Oh, fuck."

"What?" John asked. Sebastian turned his phone to his right to reveal the teen heroine Kim Possible pulling a textbook out of the locker next to him.

"Dude, you've been there for what? Fifteen minutes? And you already have a crush on a girl?" John asked, seemingly surprised and mock irritated.

"No, she showed up yesterday when I was about to knock that green woman, Shego, into next week. She ruined the whole thing," Sebastian said in almost a whisper, "Listen, I'll easily take care of King and send him running back to New York with his 'tail between his legs', just keep me updated on new developments."

"No problem," John said, then jokingly, "Good luck with your girl problem." The call then ended and Sebastian stuffed his phone back into his pocket. Sebastian continued to put stuff in his locker, occasionally glancing over at Kim. She and the blonde kid were talking to an unseen third person. She talked about the person who fought Shego yesterday. They contemplated on if the vigilante could be an ally to them. Kim was against it due to the killing factor. The third person mentioned that criminals and villains seemed to be getting more brash in recent days and could prove useful in dealing with the more violent ones. Kim seemed to be taken aback at the answer. The conversation abruptly ended when a brown hair girl interrupted them. The brown haired girl greeted them by calling them losers and started talking about cheerleading practice with Kim. Sebastian had unfortunate timing as he glance over as the brown haired girl, whom Kim called Bonnie, looked at him.

"You must be Kim's new friend," Bonnie said to Sebastian, "because you sure look like a loser."

"At least I don't look like a whore," Sebastian muttered under his breath. He continued to put things in his locker, ignoring Bonnie. Kim had a wide eyed expression on her face, she was the only one to hear Sebastian call Bonnie a whore. Bonnie became annoyed with him ignoring her.

"Well, I gotta get to class, see you losers later," she said leaving. Sebastian closed his locker and turned to see Kim and the blonde kid looking at him.

"What?" he asked. As Kim was about to speak, the blonde kid stepped forward and grabbed his hand, shaking it almost violently.

"I'm Ron, Ron Stoppable," the blonde said. Sebastian quickly pulled his hand away.

"I don't care, and I wasn't addressing you," Sebastian said. Ron stepped back behind Kim, unsure of what to think of Sebastian. Kim held out her hand.

"I'm Kim Possible," she said, cheerfully, "The one that called you a loser was Bonnie."

"I'm not hearing an explanation for why you were staring at me in there," Sebastian responded.

"I've just never seen you around here before. Are you new?" she asked. Sebastian sighed, knowing she was going to ask that.

"Yeah, I transferred from Upperton High School," Sebastian said. Sebastian hoped she did not ask why he transferred. Having to explain threatening his homeroom teacher with a pair of safety scissors would most likely not go over so well with anyone. Sebastian knew she was going to ask anyways.

"Why did you transfer to Middleton High School?" she asked. The warning bell for first hour rang, saving Sebastian from explaining. He quickly took off towards his first hour, leaving Kim and Ron standing at the lockers.

"See you at lunch," Ron called after him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Broken Hero**

**Chapter 3**

A man walked down the hall in a seemingly abandoned private airport. As he walked by a window, he glanced outside. A small jet was pulling into the hanger closest to the building the man was in. He continued walking towards the door at the other end. His metal boots made a clacking noise on the tile floor. The noise echoed throughout the hall. He wore a brown duster that was buttoned up, hiding the full body metal suit under it. A metal backpack adorned his back. Night vision goggle sat on his head. As he reached the door at the end of the hall, he gripped it with a metal glove. Upon opening the door, the sound of a jet engine filled the hall. He walked into the hanger, jet coming to a stop.

As the engine shut down, the door on the jet opened, collapsable staircase unfolding and extending to the ground. The man lowered the night vision goggles over his eyes, setting it to daytime mode. Soon enough, a figure appeared in the doorway of the jet. It was none other than King. He was wearing a red and black trench coat. He began to walk down the stairs.

"Ah, Plague, I trust you got my memo?" King asked.

"I did, and he is on his way. Welcome to Moscow sir," Plague replied.

"You can drop the sir, I'm not paying for this. This was just me asking an old friend for help," King said. The two now stood face to face. They shook hands.

"Good to see you my friend. How are you?" Plague asked, still shaking King's hand.

"Old," King replied, "But I've still got a long ways to go before I'm done, and I'm in the ground." They both laughed at this. The sound of an electric motor echoed softly throughout the hanger. Both turned to see a man in a motorized wheelchair slowly approaching. He had what looked like a cast around his neck and lower jaw. His mouth was wired shut. And there was a tube sticking out of the cast on his neck. When he was a few feet from them, he stopped. He flipped out a keyboard from his armrest, and began typing on it.

"Why the fuck did you call me out here? Don't you see the wheelchair? I'm of no use to you as a villain anymore," a mechanical voice said.

"But that is where you are wrong, Comrade. We do not need your voice. Just inforamtion you hold in your brain," King replied, "When H-Bomb went rogue ARMOR called you to calm him. Where did they take him." The one formerly known as Comrade use the joystick on his motorized wheelchair to turn and look around. Satisfied that no one was around but them, he turned back to the two and started typing on the keyboard.

"You did not hear this from me, but I heard that they were keeping him in a secure location in the desert of Nevada. A place you Americans refer to as Area 51," the mechanical voice said.

"Ah, Nellis Air Force Base, it makes sense. It is out in the middle of nowhere, secluded from the world," Plague said. King shook his head in agreement.

"Thank you Comrade. We have what we came for. And what you want is waiting back in your room at the help center," King said. Comrade turned to leave, stopping a few feet later.

"Remember, I was never a part of this," the mechanical voice said.

"Of course," King said. With that Comrade continued on, disappearing around the corner shortly. King then turned to Plague.

"Let's go to Nevada. Shall we?" King said. Plague smiled, knowing what King had planned.

"I must visit an old friend first," Plague said.

"Of course," King replied, "I'll be waiting outside the base. Find me when you are done."

"Of course," Plague replied in return. With that they both boarded the jet. It's engines soon coming to life.

-Middleton-

Lunch hour, Sebastian's savior from a fate of boring lectures. He was glad when class let out. He was never a fan of listening to someone talk for an hour. He felt that it was almost as bad as a villain's monologue. Sebastian opened the cafeteria door, and entered.

It was a crowded room. People sat at the tables and ate while others waited in line for the cafeteria food. As Sebastian looked around, he saw Kim and Ron at a table with a light brown skinned girl. Before he could turn and leave to find a quiet spot, Kim spotted him and waved him down. Sebastian knew she was waving at him, but still pretended to look around like he wasn't sure. Looking back, everyone at the table was looking at him. He sighed, knowing he couldn't get out of this. He walked over to the empty seat waiting for him. Sebastian sat down.

"Hi, I'm Monique," the light brown skinned girl said.

"Hello," Sebastian said unenthusiastically.

"So Kim tells me you transferred from Upperton, why?" Monique asked.

"It's a long story," Sebastian said, "Listen, I'd rather not be bothered right now. So, just act like I'm not here and talk about whatever you talk about."

"Did Bonnie get to you?" Kim asked. Sebastian raised an eyebrow.

"No, I'm just tired. I didn't get much sleep last night," Sebastian replied. As he finished talking, a man with shoulder length brown hair and glasses walked over to the table. He looked to be in his mid-forties. He wore a jacket, jeans, and military boots. Everyone at the table, except Sebastian, looked at him.

"Hello John," Sebastian said, slowly turning to look at him. He gave Sebastian an emotionless stare as Sebastian slowly stood up. They stared at each other with no visible emotions, before John got a huge smirk on his face, as did Sebastian. John pulled Sebastian into a man hug.

"How've you been keeping old friend?" John asked.

"Good, how've you been?" Sebastian replied.

"Getting old," John said. They both returned to emotionless faces.

"Man it's hot in here. Don't you have any air conditioning here?" John said, repeatedly glancing at the group at the table that sat with questioning faces. He rolled up the sleeves on his white dress shirt, revealing his forearms to be covered in tattoos.

"So why are you here John?" Sebastian asked.

"We have a little hitch in our sitch," John replied. Both looked to the table, then back to each other.

"Poetic, are you sure we can talk in front of them?" Sebastian asked, nodding towards the table.

"Well, knowing you, it won't last very long. Don't you remember last time?" John said.

"Don't remind me," Sebastian replied.

"Those shipments are being brought in through a local lair," John said, "One by the name of Doctor Drakken."

"Isn't he in jail?" Sebastian asked.

"He was until he escaped this morning," John said pulling a touch tablet out of his pants pocket and unrolled it, "This is the footage from the escape." The footage showed an explosion. Followed by an unknown assailant exchanging gunfire with the guards in the smoke. As the smoke cleared, it was seen that the cops were dead and Dr. Drakken and a man in a metal suit, with night vision goggles on, ran down the hallway. The video cut out shortly after.

"An EMP went off in the building after that, so there is no other footage," John said. Sebastian squinted in anger.

"Plague," he said, as calm as possible, "We need to go down to the prison as soon as possible."

"Yes, and preferably right now," John said.

"I can't ditch school on my first day," Sebastian said, "It doesn't look good on your record."

"That is why I called to have you leave early," John replied," So, if anyone asks, I'm your stepfather."

"Strange, but whatever. It's fine with me," Sebastian said.

"Who are you? And what's your interest in Drakken? Kim said.

"This is John," Sebastian said. John nodded his head as a hello.

"And we're-"

"Consultants for a security corporation," John finished the sentence in order to not look too suspicious.

"Well, good to meet you John," Kim said, raising an eyebrow at him completing Sebastian sentence hurriedly.

"Likewise, Ms-" John said, trailing off, not knowing her name.

"Possible. Kim Possible," Kim said slowly, hoping to spark recognition in him.

"I'm afraid I do not know who you are," John said, reading her expression.

"Does world famous teen hero ring a bell?" Ron asked. Sebastian looked over at Ron.

"Ah," John said.

"See I knew you knew who she was," Ron said.

"Still doesn't ring any bells. But you must be Ron Stoppable," John said.

"Hey, you know my name, a lot of people seem to forget my name," Ron said.

"Wait, how do you know Ron but not me?" Kim asked. John looked to Ron and then to Kim.

"It's a long story," he said, then to Sebastian, "Come on, let's go before the cops destroy too much of the scene." Sebastian nodded and got up, grabbing his backpack, and following John. He turned around.

"Bye, hope to see you later," he said half sarcastically and half mockingly before turning around and leaving. Flipping them off as he left.

-Later-

-Middleton Maximum Security Prison-

John walked down the hall of the prison to the scene of the explosion. Sebastian walked next to him. They both wore raid jackets with the word ARMOR in gold letters on the back. They also wore black khakis. Sebastian carried a duffel bag under his arm. As they approached the explosion site, it was seen that the police set up crime scene tape. John tore it down and walked through to the scene. The crime scene investigators were taking pictures of the scene. John spoke up raising his ARMOR id in the air.

"Alright, listen up people. We'll take this from here. I'm politely asking anyone not wearing an official ARMOR Corporation id to get the fuck out. Or else we'll place you under arrest as per chapter 8 Section B of the No More Heroes Act being that the escape involved a supervillain," John said in a loud, commanding voice. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at John. He scowled at their loitering.

"Now!" he shouted. They all quickly filed out of the room. A smirk crossed John's face as the last person left. As the door shut, John nodded to Sebastian. Who, in turn, set the duffel bag on the ground and unzipped it.

"While this does its thing, we are going to talk to another inmate here. The one under current employment of the good doctor," John said pulling out touch tablet and searching the data files until it stopped on one. Sebastian let the duffel bag crumple around a rectangular, metallic case. Sebastian placed his hand on it and swiftly removed it. This left a glowing blue outline of his hand, which faded away shortly. A quadrotor drone then unfolded from the case and hovered into the air. The drone went through various automated startup procedures before beginning various crime scene procedures. Sebastian walked over to John and looked at the file open on his tablet.

"That's the green woman I was close to knocking out," Sebastian said, snapping his fingers at trying to remember her name, "Shego."

"It says here that she was a member of Team Go. And that she is a freelance mercenary, who is currently employed by Drakken," John said, then turning to Sebastian, "Team Go was those ones based in Go City. The ones who managed to get exemption from the No More Heroes Act."

"Ah, yes," Sebastian said, "I remember them. They were pretty much super powered fanatics of Avenger. I still have the original tape of when Avenger destroyed Hego in an arm wrestling match. You can hear every little crack and pop of Hego's arm getting wrecked."

"I'll have to borrow it sometime," John replied, then to himself, "Note to self, don't challenge Avenger, wherever he is, to arm wrestling; no matter how drunk I am.

"A real life Superman indeed," Sebastian said, "No real name or age? That's odd for ARMOR to have an incomplete file."

"We don't keep track of every small time villain and thief," John said, "Only if they are a constant danger to national security."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go talk to her," Sebastian said.

John and Sebastian walked down the hall to Shego's cell. The inmates watched the two agents walk past them.

"Since we don't have much of her personal information, we'll have to try to avoid those sort of questions," John said to Sebastian. He nodded in return. They approached her cell. She sat on the bed staring at the ceiling, trying to ignore the two that were walking up to her cell.

"She's still here," Sebastian said quietly, a bit surprised.

"You were expecting her to be gone?" John asked.

"With plasma powers, you think she would have broken out of here," Sebastian countered.

"The room is plasma proof," John said. Shego watched them talk out of the corner of her eye.

"Shego, we have a few questions to ask you," John said.

"I already told your people everything when you arrested me," Shego said, with an almost bored tone.

"That wasn't a request," John said, "You are aware of the current situation in this facility, correct?"

"Who isn't?" Shego said monotonously.

"I'll take that as a yes. The escapee is one Doctor Drew Lipsky aka Doctor Drakken. Are you aware that he had help?" John asked.

"Of course. That blue idiot couldn't break out alone," Shego answered.

"Do you know who broke him out?"

"No."

"The one who broke him out was a mercenary by the name of Plague. Are you aware of who this is?"

"I've heard the stories about him. But I never believed them. No one is invincible."

"Correct. Plague is not invincible. We should know. One time when we arrested him, he had been beaten within an inch of his life and had to subdue the hero, Psychic Girl, to prevent her from killing him." Shego sat up, becoming very interested at this. Everyone had heard stories of these real life superheroes, but there was no trace of them, bar Avenger. Superheroes were nothing but myths.

"Are you aware that your current employer, Doctor Drakken, has connections to Plague?" Sebastian said jumping into the conversation.

"No I did not," Shego said, very interested in the conversation now.

"Before you were employed by Drakken, he employed Plague as a personal mercenary. Even paid him double what he pays you," Sebastian said, "The reason Drakken fired him was due to his tendency towards killing in the later years. He wanted a thief not an assassin. Though occasionally ordered Plague on some assassination missions. Seems Drakken had a darker side at one point."

"Drakken? A dark side? This just keeps getting more and more interesting," Shego said.

"What we need is the password to his computer to access his personal data," John said.

"Did you try guest?" she said.

"Oh come on. It wouldn't be that easy. We're talking about a mad genius here," John said. Sebastian and Shego both raised an eyebrow at him.

"Drakken a genius?" Shego said, "Everyone of his plans are doomed to fail from the start."

"At least that means the mental block is working," John said to himself.

"Mental block?" Shego asked.

"Yeah. Back when supervillains ran rampant, Drakken was extremely dangerous. He actually came fairly close to his goal of world conquest a couple times. So we had Psychic Girl mentally inhibit his ability to create a viable plan for world domination. When you talk about final confrontations, this one was the most epic one since Comrade's defeat in '91. It cost us many of our agents," John said, smiling throughout then finishing with a depressed sigh. It was no question that he missed what has become known as, to the agents of ARMOR, the Glory Days.

"Wow," Shego said, surprised at the revelation of her employer's stupidity, "Seriously try 'guest' though. It's how I got in." Sebastian facepalmed.

"We should have figured that," he said, then to John, "Let's collect the drone and go." With that, Sebastian and John walked back the way they came. Shego sat on the bed, thinking the conversation over.

-Private Airport, Middleton-

A large man stepped out of the hanger and walked towards a car parked nearby. The man stood at a towering six foot five. He was musclebound. His biceps could expand to the size of a grown adult's head at will. He had four circular metal plates, just below his elbows. He carried two large suitcases over his back in one hand. In them, robotic forearms and hands that slipped over his. These enlarged when he enlarged his muscles. The man was simply known as Jackhammer; a supervillain and freelance mercenary. He was a foe of the vigilante The Skull.

He opened the car door and threw the suitcases on the back seat, causing the car to bounce under the weight. Closing the door, he opened the driver's seat door and got in the car. His hand reached to turn the key that was already in the ignition but hesitated upon seeing his face in the reflection. The scars were no longer visible but he could still see the surgery play over in his head. The one that made him an indestructible man. The one that gave him a metal-coated skeleton. He played the conversation over in his mind. He had been asked by King to come out to Middleton, Colorado for a new contract. He was told about his target, Kim Possible. Jackhammer knew he was having him hunt the teen heroine for sport, being he could just have Plague take care of it. But Jackhammer did not care so long as he got paid. Jackhammer snapped out of his trance. He stepped on the clutch and twisted the key in the ignition. The car flared to life. Jackhammer drove towards a frequent spot of the teen, the Middleton Mall. He would observe her first, learn all he could before he would be ready to strike.


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay so I am breaking a promise of doing some of my other stories next. But I'm just not inspired with them at the moment. So, I will continue on this.**

**Alright, so I've added quite a bit of cliches already, but it is not enough. You will see a lot more to come. To note, I have fucked up a lot of the classes that Kim and Ron took to fit this story. My boss, Talo12, has asked me to stop posting the differences between this and the graphic novel here. So assume that everything is inaccurate from this point out. I'd like to point out that I DO accept anonymous reviews, so please review. I have no idea what you all think of this if you don't review. I don't care what the review says as long as I'm getting feedback on the story. Also soon, because I can, I will be posting a poll on my profile relating to this story. I'm assuming you don't need an account to vote (I'm hoping) so I'll alert you in an author's note. I post the chapter with the note right after I post the note. Also, I have seen that my grammar and spelling aren't perfect. Keep in mind that I usually complete the chapter after several days of not sleeping. Just tell me where I fuck up, and I'll fix it.**

**Broken Hero**

**Chapter 4**

It was pitch black. A strike of lightning tore through the darkness. It was still pitch black. Another strike, and then another. It was then a constant flow of lightning strikes. And object began to form in the lightning, a face. The face was blank as the lightning kept striking at an increasing place. It then then screamed in a metallic voice, perforating the ear drums of anyone in hearing range.

Sebastian woke up, drenched in sweat. His mind focused on the screaming face from his dream.

"It's not possible," he said quietly, his chest moved to the pace of his rapid breaths. As his breathing began to slow, he lie down in the wet bed beneath him. He thought about the last two weeks, the first weeks of school. It went almost perfectly except for the first day when John decided to show up, and the questions that Kim, Ron, and Monique kept posing to him. He explained that the security consulting was something he did as an internship. But that did not stop them from questioning about other topics. To which he just deflected by changing the subject.

Sebastian was also glad that there had been no supervillain activity recently. But it was strange. First he heard that King was going to come down to oversee his shipment, and the next thing he knew, he was hearing that King had been spotted in Moscow, and then nothing. That was two weeks ago. Sebastian asked John about it, but he was clueless as well. Something did not sit right with Sebastian. It was not like any supervillain, especially someone as high profile as King, to just disappear from everyone's radar for two weeks. Sebastian had begun to question his trust in ARMOR. Someone was covering King's tracks, someone who had access to ARMOR's servers. It is nearly impossible to hack into them from the outside, so it would have to be someone inside ARMOR who had high enough security clearance to access the servers.

Sebastian swiftly got out of bed and threw on a shirt, pants, and tennis shoes. He needed some outside help on this. And though he knew he'd regret this decision, there was only one person he knew he could trust at this moment, Kim Possible.

Sebastian went down stairs, set the alarm, and left. He only lived one street over from Kim. So, he hopped his fence into the neighbor behind him's backyard, then the one to the street. He ran across the street to the other side, where Kim's house was. He began walking down the street until he came upon her house. Knowing her parents were home, Sebastian went to the side of her house where her room was, and climbed up to the window. He crouched down and looked into her room. It was dark. He could see Kim's figure on her bed. She was asleep. Sebastian then softly knocked on her window, as to not cause any unwanted attention. He waited for a moment, but she did not stir. He knocked again, this time a little louder. Kim began to stir. Sebastian looked at his watch. It read, "2:30am".

-Meanwhile-

-ARMOR Headquarters, Virginia-

The courtyard was silent bar the ever-running fountain at the middle. A soft, cool night wind blew through the grass and shrubs. A man in a business suit walked through the courtyard doors of ARMOR Headquarters. The man had shoulder length, black hair that lay flat on his head. It covered his right eye. The color of his left iris was blood red. His hands were gloved. He carried a briefcase in his left hand. He started to walk past the front desk. But the security guard reading yesterday's newspaper noticed him and put the paper down.

"Hey, you're not supposed to be here. Let's see your id," the guard said strongly. The man stopped walking and turned towards the desk, staring straight ahead.

"Here's my id," he said in a toneless voice. He lifted his hair off of his right eye, revealing it too to be red in color. Blue energy sliced across the guard's temple and jaw. The guard fell out of his chair, head falling apart in the process, pouring blood everywhere. The man lowered the hair back over his eye and continued onward. As he reached the elevator, he saw it required handprint recognition. Not deterred by this, he set the briefcase down. His hand then segmented and retracted to the wrist, revealing bleeding flesh and sharpened bone. He tore through the handprint recognition like tinfoil, causing the entire elevator system to malfunction. During the malfunction, the elevator opened and allowed access to all levels. The man's hand spread back out over the flesh and the segments closed into a whole. He picked up his briefcase and entered the elevator, selecting the main server room, one of the most high level areas in the headquarters.

The man rode down, watching the white lights change to the current floor on the floor select. A blue light then appeared on the floor about the confiscated villains' weapons floor. This light meant someone pressed the button to get on the elevator. The man continued to stare straight ahead at the elevator doors. As the elevator reached the floor with the blue light on the button, the man set the briefcase down. As the door opened, he gave no chance to whoever was behind the door. He lunged at them. They dropped the files they were holding and dodged the lunge in time. As the man recovered from the lunge, he turned to see a familiar face.

"Ah, Black Diamond, it is good to fight you again," the man said.

"You," the one called Black Diamond replied, "It's just John now. I dropped the super hero act a long time ago." John stood up from the crouch he was in.

"Your name will not matter when I splatter your brains all over this room," the man said, beginning to remove his hair from his right eye. Seeing this, John rushed the man. Lunging at him, John knocked him to the ground, burying his thumb into the man's right eye. He earned a sickening squelch noise from the eye bursting under the pressure. Blood poured over John's thumb as he pressed harder on the eye.

"I see you are trying to push into my brain. I'm afraid I can't allow that," the man said, trying to mask the severe pain in his eye socket. The man brought his leg up between them. He then kicked out, pushing John off of him. The man stood up calmly, blood pouring freely from his right eye socket.

"Now, feel my wrath," the man said. He tried to activate the energy that he used on the guard, but it did not work. He tried again, but this time there was a loud bang and the man flew backwards as blood burst from the socket. The man quickly recovered and made a run for the elevator. The right side of his head was torn open, exposing his brain. The man pressed the lobby button in the elevator.

"We will meet again soon, John," he said as the doors closed. John then lowered his guard. He looked around at the mess in the room.

"Great, I have to clean this up now, don't I?" John said allowed to no one in particular.

-Earlier-

-Dementor's Undisclosed European Lair-

A trench coated man stood in the middle of a large, round room across from a short German man that wore a helmet to hide his face. Henchmen stood on the outer edge of the room watching this man make a deal with their employer. The room contained two supercomputers and workbenches with various mechanical parts laying on them. The man wore his golden hair in a ponytail. Though this change of hairstyle and clothing almost completely camouflaged his infamous appearance, his insidious glare remained as he talked with the German scientist.

"I can assure you that I will take care of that matter. It will be dealt with swiftly when the time is right. As for the other matter, I will provide protection for your interests if you do me one small favor in return," the man said. The scientist spoke with a heavy German accent.

"And what would that be, mobster?" he asked. The man began to pace around the room, observing his surroundings.

"In a few weeks, I will send a signal to you. When you receive that signal, I want you lure the teen hero here. I will have the trap set already. And after observing her tactics, she will spring it wonderfully," the man said, a devious smile crossing his face as he lightly ran his fingers along the keyboard to one of the supercomputers.

"How can you be sure that she will spring it?" the German asked.

"Simple, we leave an air vent open for her," the man said.

"How does that spring the trap!? You will just be letting her inside!" the German shouted.

"That's the point. We will be already waiting for her before she enters the air vent," the man said, pulling out a flip phone, "Ah, your protection has arrived. Shall we let him in?"

"Him? As in only one?" the German asked. Just then a door opened and a figure wearing a trench coat entered the room. He was a tall, six foot, man with a shaved head. He wore gloves on his hands.

"Ah, Dementor allow me to introduce you to Volto. He is your protection. I always like to see the hired help tested before they are put to actual use. Shall we? Send in your best men," the man said to Dementor. He nodded. Then, five men entered through a door on the other side of the room. Dementor nodded at them to attack with everything they had. The men charged as Volto calmly took his gloves off. As they fell to the ground, Volto narrowed his eyes at the charging men. He raised an arm outward, towards the attackers. As it became fully raised, lightning shot from his fingers, striking the attackers in vital points on their body. They froze in place at this, unable to move. A few moments later, Volto lowered his arm, causing the lightning to disappear. The attackers fell, smoke trailing from where they were hit by lightning. They did not move as the smell of burning flesh began to pierce the air.

"He killed all of them, in a single move," Dementor said, wide-eyed, then to the man offering the deal, "Impressive. We have a deal." They then shook hands, sealing the deal. The man then approached Volto and whispered a vital message in his ear, before walking towards the door. As he reached it, it opened. He turned back to the German.

"Remember, I'll contact you," he said before disappearing out into the wilderness. The sound of helicopter rotors could be heard above the wind. The man walked out to the location of the helicopter. Heavily armed guards kept watch over it. The storm began to pick up. Lightning cracked across the sky. The sky was rapidly blackening before him.

"Let's get out of here before we get caught in too heavy of a storm," the man said over the noise of the helicopter and the wind. The guards nodded and began boarding the helicopter. As they flew away from the lair, the man took the trench coat off to reveal a king playing card tattooed on the left side of his neck. As they flew away, the man watched the hidden lair disappear into a fog of clouds.

"Send an agent to ARMOR headquarters," he said to a guard, "Have him deliver a briefcase. It is to contain Project 23. Have him get as close to the mainframe as possible." The guard nodded.

"Yessir," the guard said, and started dialing a number on his disposable phone. The storm began to pick up again. Soon rain turned into sleet, then to hail, then to snow. The blizzard ravaged the once beautiful forest below the helicopter.

"Sir, we cannot fly through this storm. It's suicide," the pilot said. The man with the tattoo contemplated this.

"Fine, land as soon as possible," he said, "We can find shelter from this storm when we land."

"Right away sir," the pilot responded.

-Present-

-Jewelry Store, Middleton-

The store was dark, the eggshell colored walls were stained with red. The front window was smashed. The burglar alarm rang like there was no tomorrow. The various glass cases holding precious jewelry was smashed, jewelry missing. Two bodies lay on the floor. They had two holes in their chests as if they were gored by a bull. Blood poured from the wounds, soaking into the magenta carpeting. A man stood over the last smashed glass case that had jewelry in it. He slowly reached into the case, pinching the last necklace and pulling it up to examine it in front of a flashlight the man brought. He looked over the necklace before shoving it in a bag. He turned to leave, looking over at the dead bodies. He spoke in a thick British accent.

"It was nice working you, but I must be going." He spoke to it as if it was alive. He smiled sharpley, as if it said something back and picked up a cow skull with long, twisted, goat like horns on it.

"Almost forgot this. You're a cheeky bugger. You better watch your mouth Yank, or else I'll have to kill you again," he continued, "What? You want to know my name? Well, for all intents and purposes it's Cirrian. No, it is not my real name, I forgot that years ago. No, that's probably not a real name anyways." Cirrian stepped out through the store's window.  
>"I'll be seeing you mate," he said to the bodies. As he turned to run, Two figures jumped from the roof in front of him to the ground, blocking his exit path. One of them he recognized from the "living fabric" skull mask he wore. The red haired female he did not.<p>

"Hey Skull, I see you got a new girlfriend. The other one run off on you or did you leave her arse behind?" Cirrian quipped.

"One, neither are my girlfriend. And, while both reasons are inaccurate, the latter is the closest," Skull replied.

"I'm Kim Possible, who are you?" the redhead said.

"To you, my name is Cirrian. Skull here knows me by a different name. I've never heard of you, Kim. You must be new," Cirrian said. He pulled the skull over his head like a mask, fusing the skull and his head. Obsidian stone covered his body, but he was able to easily move in it, like a second skin. Cirrian blew air out of his nose quickly, sounding like a grunt from a bull about to charge. Flames burst from the nasal cavity each time he did that. He then lowered into a crouched stance, leaning forward, placing his hands on the ground like an olympic runner. He lowered his head so the top of the skull faced the heroes. He then charged at full speed. Skull pushed Kim out of the way to avoid be seriously injured and then jumped out of the way himself. But he wasn't fast enough, as his right calf was torn all the way across by the horn. He hit the ground and the blood began to paint the sidewalk red from the wound. Cirrian stopped after passing the heroes. He spoke as if he was speaking in a demonic cackle with three others doing the same.

"I'll be seeing you heroes," he said. Skull sat up, clenching his leg.

"Stay and fight me fiend," Skull said.

"No," he replied, running off, leaving Skull and Kim there.

"Obsidian!" Skull yelled after Cirrian. Kim began to chase after Cirrian.

"It's too late Kim. He's gone," Skull said.

"No, I can catch him if I hurry," Kim said.

"No, he is gone. Probably on the other side of the city by now," Skull said, "Besides, we need to get my leg taken care of." Kim walked over to Skull and knelt down next to him. She moved his hand to check the wound, cringing at how deep it was.

"We need to get you to a hospital," Kim said. Skull removed his mask, revealing Sebastian underneath.

"No!" Sebastian quickly shouted, then in a lower voice, "No hospitals. They report stuff like this. I can't be given over to ARMOR like bad merchandise." Kim placed her hands on the wound and applied pressure to it.

"We could have my mom do it. She can do this and won't report it," Kim said quickening her speech pattern in urgency.

"Are you sure she won't report it?" Sebastian asked, putting emphasis on sure.

"Yes, I'm sure," Kim replied. Sebastian grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and pulled closer so their faces were merely inches away.

"Are you sure?" he asked, putting great emphasis on sure. Kim gave him a disgruntled look.

"I'm sure," she said in an annoyed tone, prying his hands off of her shirt. Sebastian let go of her shirt, and she fell back from trying to pull away from Sebastian's grip.

"Alright, fine. She'll do it then." Sebastian said in defeat, then, "But we do it at your house."

"Fine," Kim said. Sebastian began to stand up, using Kim for support. A blood pool had formed where Sebastian had sat. They began the slow shuffle to Kim's house. It was going to be a long morning.


	5. Chapter 5

**Broken Hero**

**Chapter 5**

"He's called, Obsidian Breed, one of the most dangerous killers to walk the planet," Black Diamond said. He wore a black suit with a red tie. His undershirt was white. He looked around the room, at the men and women who sat at the desks that filled the room. They some wore black shirts with the ARMOR logo on them, others a white shirt. They all wore black slacks. Some of them were vigorously writing notes in their notebooks. Black diamond readjusted the glasses on his nose and continued.

"He was the first to make up words for an alias. He started off as a serial killer under the name of Cirrian. He doesn't know why he calls himself that, but he can't remember his birth name and there are no personal documents of his. We suspect that at one point he had facial reconstructive surgery. But there is still nothing concrete supporting this," Black Diamond kept lecturing. As he did, he noticed a figure walk into the room and lean against the back wall with arms crossed. The living fabric was unmistakable.

"And here to share with us his personal encounters with Obsidian Breed, is Skull," Black Diamond said. Skull cursed under his breath and uncrossed his arms. He walked down the middle aisle of the room, grabbing a newspaper off of one of the desks along the way. It had a front page article about the recent arrest and subsequent escape of Obsidian Breed. He made his way to the front center of the room. He held up the paper for everyone to see.

"This is dated, September 10th, 1983. Today. The author of this article wrote about the most recent capture of Obsidian Breed. Three days ago," Skull growled, "He managed to escape prison two days ago, and no one knows how he did it. But, I guess I'm to tell you of how the fight went down before he was captured."

-Later-

"You wanted to speak with me Diamond? " Skull asked as he walked up next to Black Diamond in ARMOR Headquarters' courtyard. Black Diamond put out a used cigarette on the ground and pulled another out of the pack and lit it.

"Dark times are ahead of us," Black Diamond said, a somber look on his face, "Bush is pushing Congress on a bill to ban masked heroes. My sources tell me that there is a very good chance it will pass soon." Skull looked into the glass windows of the mess across the courtyard. He watched the agents congregate with each other during their meal.

"I wouldn't be too concerned with that as long as ARMOR still has heavy influence in Congress," Skull said.

"You're probably right," Black Diamond replied, "But I didn't call you here to make small talk. I believe my program has identified another potential Hero." Black Diamond handed Skull a manila folder. He opened it and looked through the contents.

"Her name is Barbara Slater. She turned eighteen two weeks ago," Black Diamond said.

"You're having me track down teens now?" Skull asked.

"Villains have become a plenty now. We need all of the help we can get. And she has already caused an incident," Diamond replied. Sebastian turned to the incident report. There was a picture showing a young man with a neck brace and a bruised and bloodied face.

"Five broken vertebrae, seven broken ribs, a popped lung, shattered collar bones, several skull fractures, a popped eye, along with several cuts and bruises. The young man is lucky to be alive," Diamond announced staring straight ahead at the mess, "All with her mind. I need you to find her and subdue her before she causes another incident." Skull looked to Diamond, confused.

"You want me to kill her?" he asked.

"No, if I wanted her dead, I would send an agent to take care of it. I want you to make her unconscious and bring her back here. I don't care how you do it. Injure her if you must, just don't kill her," Diamond said.

"Does Vallance know about this?" Skull asked. Diamond chuckled and handed Skull a cigarette. He pulled his mask up just past his nose as Diamond lit the cigarette.

"Vallance is an insane old man who is out of his league, I'm the one who is doing all the work, making all of the hard decisions, while he sits in his office, hallucinating about his squadmates he lost in Vietnam. The kicker is that it wasn't the Reds that got them, it was accidental friendly fire. But the old bastard was so distraught and in disbelief at the fact that it was friendly fire, he has convinced himself it was the Reds and so he bought Armalite and created ARMOR. Now the old fucker just pretends to pour drinks for his dead friends while he leaves us to our own devices. So, fuck him, I'll take charge since no one else will. And we'll put these Villains away for good," Diamond ranted.

"Amen to that," Skull said, taking a hit on the cigarette. They then stood in silence as they enjoyed their smokes.

-Present-

-Middleton-

Sebastian lie sprawled out on the couch in the living room of the Possible household. The jeans on his right calf were torn off to allow easy clean up of the wound. He was dead asleep, worn out from the events a few hours prior. The hands on the clock on the wall read six-thirty am. It was a Tuesday. The sun poured through the blinds on the windows. Kim was the first one up. She walked through the living room towards the kitchen, noticing Sebastian's figure sprawled out on the couch. A look of concern spread across her face.

She thought back to what had happened the night before and how adamant he was about staying away from hospitals. She thought to the costume that now ran through the laundry that she wore last night. She thought about what he had said about that monster and how it would be less likely to up a fight if she wore the costume. It didn't work too well. She looked to the stitches on his calf, debating with herself on whether to wake him up or not. She decided against it and continued on to the kitchen. Soon Kim's parents awoke and began their breakfast preparation for them and Kim's twin brothers. Kim's mother, Ann Possible, called the school to tell them that Sebastian would not be in attendance for the day.

ALmost twenty minutes later, Kim walked back into the living room to wake Sebastian up to see if he wanted any food. As she approached the couch, she noticed that Sebastian was gone. She began to search for Sebastian immediately, while also calling his name. Soon enough, the commotion piqued Ann's interest and came to see what was happening. She entered the living just as Kim did. Also seeing that Sebastian was missing.

"I searched everywhere for him. It's like he just got up and left," Kim said, sitting on the couch.

"I don't think he would be walking anywhere with his leg the way it is. He seems like a smart kid, I'm sure he's fine," Ann replied.

"He's just really stubborn mom," Kim said, intrigued with her mother's words.

"Not unlike someone else I know," Ann replied teasingly.

-Sebastian's House-

Sebastian sat in a chair, his right foot on the polished, wooden dining table. He grabbed a pair of scissors that sat next to his leg. He then adjusted how his leg was position to get a better look at the stitching. The wound had almost healed already, though it would leave a scar. And not the first from that monster. Sebastian cut through the stitching with the scissors before pulling them out with his hand. Small trails of blood trickled from the spots the stitching once was. He wiped the blood away with his thumb.

"You do tend to heal quickly, don't you?" a voice said from behind him. Sebastian recognized the toneless voice anywhere.

"Still hiding in the shadows?" Sebastian asked, turning to the figure. It gave an empty chuckle.

"Of course," it replied. Sebastian noticed the figure was missing it's right eye, along with a scar that ran from the socket along the right side of its head.

"What happened there?" Sebastian asked, motioning to the empty socket.

"Oh, this?" the figure said, running his hand along the scar, "I paid a visit to one of your old friend last night. I think he said he calls himself John. And I don't think he likes me very much."

"I don't think he likes anyone very much," Sebastian commented, "Alright, let's cut to the chase, why are you here?" The figure smirked.

"Always to the point, I admire that in people," the figure said, "I know you hate surprises, so I came to tell you that Barbara and her family and are moving to Middleton, and she will be attending the same high school you do. Now, I can't quite remember if it's today or tomorrow." The figure tapped his lips with his finger. Sebastian narrowed his eyes at the figure.

"It is definitely tomorrow," the figure finally said.

"Well, thanks for telling me. But I'm sure that you had something to do with her coming here. So don't expect too much gratitude from me," Sebastian replied, "Now would you kindly get the fuck out of my house so I can get ready for school?"

-Later-

-Middleton High School-

Kim and Ron walked towards Kim's locker. Ron was ranting about something, but Kim didn't know what as she block it out thinking on Sebastian's sudden disappearance. She couldn't help but blame herself. Thoughts of him tearing the stitching and bleeding out kept flowing through her mind. As they reached Kim's locker, she realized that Ron was trying to get her attention.

"Huh, oh, that's great Ron," she said quickly.

"Uh no, that's not great KP," Ron continued to rant. Kim opened her locker and got her books for class. As she closed the locker, she saw Sebastian grabbing his books. It took a second for Kim to realize that she was staring at the person who had gotten his leg torn open the previous night, and couldn't walk on it. He had also shaven his goatee. When she finally realized that Sebastian was standing there, her eyes went wide.

"Sebastian," she whispered, the moment sinking in. At hearing his name, Sebastian looked over to Kim. He raised an eyebrow at her in a questioning manner.

"Yes?" he asked almost nonchalantly. Kim's heart skipped a beat. She was no longer worried; she was pissed off at him. Feeling her anger building inside her, she wondered why she was quivering and fighting back some tears from welling up in her eyes. She could feel a lump form in her throat.

"Y-you're...okay?" she stuttered, "I...tho-thought...you were dead. I worry…about you fo-for nothing?" Unable to hold back the feelings any longer, she ran past Sebastian and disappeared around a corner. Sebastian furrowed his eyebrows and looked over Ron who looked worried about Kim. When Ron met Sebastian's questioning gaze, he shrugged. It was apparent to both of them that this was an odd reaction for Kim. Though Sebastian quickly shrugged it off.

"Teenagers," he muttered as he closed his locker. As Sebastian quickly turned and headed for class, he accidentally ran into a girl holding her books and papers close to her chest, knocking the books and papers onto the floor.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see ya there," Sebastian said apologetically. He noticed that the girl wore glasses and had blond hair which was pulled back into a ponytail.

"It's alright, no one ever does," she said in a light voice, looking off to one side. Sebastian furrowed his eyebrows at this. He couldn't help but feel guilty about saying that now. The thought was odd, he never felt guilt about anything before.

"I'm gonna go find Kim," Ron said. When the two didn't take notice of him, he hastily walked off.

"Uh, let me help you pick all this up," Sebastian said. The girl gave a small smile. They both reached down at the same time, only managing for their heads to collide in the process. This caused the girl's glasses to fall off. She quickly reached up to feel the spot where their heads collided.

"Ah crap, my glasses," she said. Sebastian picked them up and held them out to her.

"Here you go," Sebastian said. As the girl took them, their hands briefly touched. As they did, Sebastian felt an odd sensation in his gut. He ignored it and started picking up papers and books. As they finished, Sebastian put the books and paper into a stack. He put all the paper into one pile on top of the books. Still kneeling, he handed it back to the girl.

"I didn't really organize it, sorry," Sebastian said.

"That's alright, I'll do it later," the girl said, taking her backpack off. She put the books and papers in it.

"I should have done this in the first place," she said. She looked at the clock on the wall, seeing that class started shortly. They both stood up.

"Thank you…" she said trailing off.

"Sebastian," he interjected. She quietly repeated his name.

"Thank you Sebastian. I'm June," she said quickly as the class start warning bell rang. She gave him a quick hug and took off down the hallway.

"I'll see you sixth hour," she called out as she ran. He watched as she ran down the hallway. When she turned a corner, Sebastian then started to walk towards his class. Sebastian's class happened to be the door to the right of him.

"Someone's crushin'," Monique said, walking up behind him.

"Am not," Sebastian replied as they walked into the class they shared.

"Are too, and don't try to deny it," Monique retorted as they walked towards their seats, which happened to be next to each other. Sebastian flashed a sheepish grin.

"Okay, maybe," Sebastian answered, sitting down at his desk.

"You should see if she wants to get coffee or something," Monique said. Sebastian raised his eyebrow.

"I just met her, Monique. Don't you think jumping straight to a date is a little too much?" Sebastian asked.

"Just go as friends. It'll give you two a chance to get to know each other," Monique answered. Sebastian thought on this for a few moments.

"Well, you haven't given me bad advice yet," Sebastian said, with what seemed to be his first genuine smile in a long time.

"I know it," Monique rejoindered. They both had a good laugh at Monique's comment before the class bell rang.

-Drakken's Lair-

"Gah! It's useless!" the blue villain shouted, throwing his wrench on the ground. The assassin Plague walked over to the doctor. He put a comforting hand on the doctor's shoulder.

"What seems to be the problem," Plague spoke as if speaking to an upset child.

"These upgrades and new designs are being built too slow. They'll never get finished in time," Drakken whined.

"I believe that you can do it. You are a genius after all. I would never be able to build the magnificent creations you build. What do you think is the cause of the slowed progress?" Plague asked.

"That for one," Drakken motioned to the henchmen all taking a break, "This isn't what I'm paying you for, back to work. Or I'll have you all replaced." The henchmen quickly got up and began working again.

"Good, you are making progress with the henchmen I see. What else?" Plague continued.

"All the construction robot, the Bender Unit, does is lay on the couch all day watching tv and drinking beer," Drakken explained, then to the Bender Unit, "You stupid, useless bucket of bolts!"

"Bite my shiny, metal ass!" came the response from the living room of the lair.

"Grr! I'll fix the Bender later," Drakken gritted through his teeth. Plague nodded towards the machine being constructed.

"When do you estimate this will be done by at the current rate of construction?" Plague asked, then added, "My employer needs to know." Drakken observed the construction and thought for a few moments.

"At the current rate, construction will be finished and ready for a practice test in at least a month and a half," Drakken said. Plague nodded at this. He began to walk towards the door.

"I shall go update my employer. I'll let Bio-Mistress keep you company while you work," Plague explained, "Careful though, she is a seductress and will make you her's by any means necessary." Plague winked at Drakken before disappearing out the door. A vine slithered out from a dark corner of the room. And another, and another, until a woman in green walked out of the shadows and over to Drakken. She stood the same height as Drakken. She ran her hand down his chest. His eyes were wide open and he was breathing heavy.

"Mmm, I just can't resist a man in uniform," she cooed. She pressed her body to his. Drakken opened his mouth but couldn't form any words. A vine wrapped around their waists, locking them together.

"A-a-alright…I think it's ti-time to...get back to work," Drakken stammered. The vine tightened its hold on them. One of her hands began to work its way over Drakken's cheek to his mouth, while her other hand explored his body. Her hand moved lightly over his flushed cheek. Upon reaching his mouth, she placed her thumb on his lips and began to rub it back and forth lightly over them. When she finished with that, she moved her thumb back over the center of his lips and gently pressed her thumb into Drakken's mouth until it was just over his teeth. She gently opened his mouth, letting her thumb fall out as it opened. It stayed open as she cradled his head in her hand.

Bio-Mistress brought their heads close together until their mouths were only a few inched away. Drakken's still hung open. Bio-Mistress parted her lips and blew a purple dust into Drakken's mouth, and let him inhale it. Drakken relaxed in the vine's grip. Bio-Mistress brought their lip together as they shared a deep, passionate kiss. At the same time, she ran her other hand up the inside of Drakken's leg. The henchmen continued to work while also watching the scene of Drakken and Bio-Mistress unfold with a mixture of a look of horror, confusion, and curiosity on their faces.


	6. Chapter 6

**Broken Hero**

**Chapter 6**

The sterile room was barren bar two leather chairs, a wooden desk with a computer on top and an ashtray, a bookcase containing various military handbooks, and a glass display case. The display case was as tall as the room, and a little under five feet across. The display was split in two by a polished wooden plank. on one side was shelves filled with newspaper clippings, magazine articles, and pictures all pertaining to The Heroes. The other side of the display case contained a black with white accents jumpsuit and gloves, and a black, diamond shaped domino mask worn by a light grey colored mannequin. There was also a grey utility belt around the mannequin's waist. There were various pictures of the costume being worn by a person taped up around the costume.

Skull sat at the chair in front of the desk as Black Diamond, sitting in the chair behind the desk, sorted some papers into a pile in front of him. Black Diamond looked up into the eye sockets of the vigilante and let out a heavy breath filled with the smoke of the cigarette he had in his mouth. Pulling the cigarette out of his mouth, Black Diamond looked at it. Seeing it was almost used up, Black Diamond took the last hit off of it before sticking it in the ashtray. Skull continued to sit in silence as Black Diamond blew out the smoke from the last hit of his cigarette.

"I want you to go undercover," Black Diamond said to Skull, folding his hands on the desk. Skull thought about this for a moment.

"Where, when and why?" Skull finally asked.

"Where is here. When is as soon as possible. And why is because I need you to collect data that I can't normally obtain," Black Diamond replied.

"Well, spying on the Armalite Military Organization wasn't exactly in my schedule. I may live dangerously, but I'm not suicidal. What data can't you, of all people, collect that you need me to?" Skull asked.

"All I want is for you to write weekly reports on everything that you see while training and going on missions along side the agents, as an agent. And of course I don't know who you are, and I don't want to know," Black Diamond said, sliding the stack of papers over to Skull, "You'll fill out this identity chart. I'll put you in the computer as a transfer from another base. And we have this great new, fully tested, temporary, facial reconstruction technology that will give you a new face for the duration of your operation. At the end of the mission, just go back and get your face reconstructed. The best part is it's automated, so the only person who will see your real face is the computer." Skull looked over the papers in silence for several moments. He looked back to Black Diamond.

"I'll do it," Skull said, "On two conditions. One, I've seen those classes for training Heroes how to control and use their powers. You will pull Ms. Slater out of the classes and I will train her myself. And two, I am able to continue my vigilante work on the side, if I deem it necessary."

Black Diamond mulled this over for a few seconds. He did not like going against this protocol, especially since it puts a lot of people at risk with the untrained Hero. And not only that, but those who are taken under to be trained by Skull often never last more than a week before begging to be put into the training programs, or end up seriously injured, or dead. There were only three who ever completed their training under Skull. Two of them disappeared from the face of the Earth within a week of becoming Heroes. The third was the wildly famous Hero named Volto. Volto, as guessed by his name has electricity based powers, or as commonly referred to as Skills. The term Skills is derived off of a joke of a late Hero course instructor, who used humor to connect with his students.

"Alright, it's a deal," Black Diamond said. He reached in the small drawer of the desk, pulled out a black pen, and handed it to Skull. Skull then proceeded to begin to fill out the paperwork. They both knew the great risk that came with spying on those they call brothers, along with the severe protocol violations that, if found out, would get them both thrown in an ARMOR prison, or as it is more commonly known Hell's Gates.

-Present Day-

-Middleton High School-

As the bell rang for lunch, students poured into the formerly barren hallways. The masses headed for the lunchroom to eat their lunches and socialize with friends. But Sebastian had another intent as he entered the lunchroom. He quickly scanned the room. His face showed no emotion, as his eyes searched the room as a hawk searching for prey. His eyes landed upon Kim who stood in the line for the cafeteria food. She spoke with Ron. About what, Sebastian could not tell. It did not matter to him. He quickly made his way across the cafeteria to Kim. He grabbed Kim's upper arm.

Taking her by surprise, Kim jumped a little a Sebastian's action. But quickly realizing that Sebastian was tightly gripping her arm, she protested and tried to release herself from Sebastian's grip. Kim is surprisingly strong, knocking around beefed up henchmen with relative ease on a regular basis. She was surprised that she was unable to break his grip on her. Sebastian turned his head to Ron. Who was also surprised at Sebastian, had a look of confusion on his face.

"I need to borrow Kim for a moment," Sebastian said to Ron, putting on an obviously over exaggerated smile. He then proceed to pulled Kim quickly out of the cafeteria, despite her protests and attempts to break his hold on her. As Sebastian pulled Kim into a hallway just outside of the cafeteria, he actively looked around to see if there was anyone nearby. Determining that there was no one, Sebastian pulled Kim out in front of him. She steadied herself and swiftly turned to face Sebastian.

"What the hell is your problem!?" Kim shouted.

"What's my problem? What's your problem? Making a big scene like that in the hallway!" Sebastian growled.

"Oh, I don't know! How about that freaking monster slicing your leg open! Hitting an artery no less! And having mom do the surgery on the kitchen table!" Kim shouted, "You're aren't even supposed to be walking for another month at least! Yet, you disappear by breakfast! Leaving me to worry that your stitches broke and you bled out!" Sebastian become aware that he caused her emotional pain by his actions. This confused him. Kim always seemed so strong in the time he knew her. Sebastian reasoned with himself that there was more at work than the fact that Kim cared for his well being, something only a couple of people had shown before.

"You, worried for me?" Sebastian asked, his brain taking longer than usual to process this information. The look on his face told that he was still processing information.

"Yes," Kim replied, "I actually care about my friends' well beings. Obviously unlike some people." The information finally clicked in Sebastian's brain at Kim's mention of friends.

"Friends? We're friends?" Sebastian asked slowly. Kim nodded. Sebastian took a moment to choose his next words carefully, as they could either end his newly discovered friendship or save it as it is sinking.

"Listen, Kim, about this morning, and last night really, I'm sorry. I have a tendency to get carried away sometimes and don't realize it," he said, looking into Kim's eyes for feedback, "There are just some things no one should ever know about me. That's why I took off by breakfast this morning. it's why I refuse to answer all of the questions you and the others ask me. And let's both try to keep the outburst we seem to keep having to a minimal. It attracts unwanted attention for both of us. And I just want to be one of those who are just in the background and are not the center of attention, deal?" Sebastian gave a half smile, still staring into Kim's emerald eyes. She slowly nodded. He could see that it would take a while to fully forgive him, but he could live with the little forgiveness she was giving to him. Sebastian tried to keep focus, work out this situation logically. He thought to the fact that everything seemed out of pace, everything around him was screwed up. And as if to confirm his reasoning, Sebastian's phone went off. He took his phone out of his pocket, and turned the screen on. He then pressed his earpiece to activate the mic.

"This is a bad time John, make it quick," Sebastian said quietly. John nodded.

"Are you alone?" he asked. Sebastian looked around the hallway. It was empty except for Kim staring at him with a questioning look. He looked back to the phone.

"More or less," Sebastian answered.

"Well," John started, "I was doing some digging after an old foe of your's infiltrated ARMOR. And it seems that King has tracked your location to the high school and has planted a spy to find you. There isn't much I can't do at the moment as I have been unable to identify who the spy is. I will keep digging though to learn more. Until I can find out more, be careful. The spy could be anyone. So, do what you're good at and don't trust anyone."

"Easy enough," Sebastian said, as the image of John disappeared from the screen of the phone. Sebastian put the phone back in his pocket and pressed the earpiece to turn it off. He looked back at Kim to see her still looking at him. Sebastian just shrugs his shoulders.

"Let me guess, this is one of those things no one should ever know about you?" Kim said, questioningly. Sebastian gave a large, fake smile and put his hand on Kim's upper arm.

"Now you're catching on. Let's get something to eat, I'm starving," Sebastian said to Kim before walking back towards the cafeteria.

As Sebastian puts his food on the lunch table before sitting down, he feels a presence behind him. Sebastian confirmed the identity of the presence when they put their hands over his eyes. Before the person behind Sebastian could say anything, he spoke up.

"Damn, I never hoped to see you again," Sebastian said, not moving.

"Is that any way to greet your best friend?" a feminine voice said. The girl let her hands fall to Sebastian's shoulders. Sebastian looked at her hands on his shoulders, annoyed, then to everyone else at the table, watching the scene unfurl.

"We're not friends," Sebastian said.

"Sure," the girl said sarcastically, then, "you know you love me." Sebastian mentally rolled his eyes.

"Oh yeah, I'm just brimming with love for you," Sebastian said as sarcastically as possible, then turning to face the girl, "Barbara." The brunette had a big smile on her face, and pulled Sebastian into a bear hug.

"You got stronger," Sebastian said, "But still not stronger than me." Sebastian then pulled the still smiling Barbara into a strong bear hug. As he did this, Barbara giggled until he let her go. They were both smiling and laughing now.

"When I try to squeeze the life out of you, you have a tendency to giggle uncontrollably, you know that?" Sebastian said in a deadpan tone.

"I know," Barbara responded. At that moment, Sebastian's phone went off. He took it out of his pocket and saw it was John's caller id. He looked up to Barbara.

"Sorry, I gotta go," he said. Barbara gave him an empty smile.

"I'll be right here when you get back," she replied.

"I hope not," Sebastian joked. As Sebastian left, Barbara sat down in his chair. She picked up the plastic fork on Sebastian's food tray, and pokes the lunch. She swears she can see it squirm at this. She set the fork down and looked at everyone at the table.

-Later, night-

-Industrial District, Middleton-

Skull sat on the roof of a warehouse, looking through binoculars at another warehouse a few blocks over. Skull looked over next to him as a brown haired man in a suit sat down next to him, holding two beers in his hands. He handed one Skull.

"Lucky my body is able to handle all the crap we eat and drink during these stakeouts," Skull commented. The brown haired man, John, nodded and smirked at this. He held his beer up.

"To strong stomachs, and being above the law," John toasted.

"Fuck yea," Skull replied, before taking a swig. John noticed he did not take his mask off when he drank.

"You know, I never understood how you're able to eat and drink through that mask," he said.

"And you never will," Skull replied, taking another drink. John watched as he saw the beer move from Skull's nearly transparent lips until it disappeared below his collar, able to clearly see the drink through the entire process.

"Gross," John commented. Skull chuckled at his comment.

"Hey, where's your costume?" Skull asked. John gave him a confused look before understanding what he asked.

"I got it, Just haven't put it on yet. No real point if this is a dead end, right?" John said. Skull looked to John. From what John could tell, Skull was frowning at him before turning back to stare into the binoculars. A half hour passed of them sitting there. Skull continued to stare through the binoculars. John lay on the ground, barely able to sing the melody to some song, though to what song was lost in the slurry singing. Several beer bottles lay around John. A good amount surrounded Skull, but he seemed unaffected by the alcohol.

"We've been here for hours, and nothing's happened yet. This is fucking boring," John managed to slur out. Skull ignored John's drunken complaint.

"I got movement," Skull announced. John sobered up quickly and sat up, grabbing the binoculars from Skull. Looking through them, John saw what Skull saw. There were several large, armed men patrolling the front of the warehouse. A black luxury car sat in front of the entrance. Several more armed men got out of the car, followed by a man white t-shirt, combat vest, camouflage pants, and boots. His arms were covered in tattoos. The man was bald. He had a mask strapped to his face. He turned slightly, revealing the mask was shaped as the outline of a face, only there were eyeholes cut where the eyes would be on the mask. John noticed a small tattoo of the number ten on the man's neck. John lowered the binoculars and furrowed his brow before looking through the binoculars at the man again. He then handed the binoculars to Skull.

"You're never gonna believe this," John said, "but Ten is here." Skull looked through the binoculars to the man.

"No fucking way. He's dead," Skull replied.

"I guess not," John commented. Skull stood and walked away from the stakeout position, towards the opposite edge of the warehouse.

"Where you going?" John asked. Skull looked over his shoulder.

"I don't know enough of what is going on yet. I need to see an old friend. But right now I have to go home. I have school tomorrow, remember?" Skull explained. John sighed. He stood too. And walked over to Skull.

"Right, I forgot. How's that going for you?" John asked.

"Not as well as I hoped. Being there I feel different," Skull answered.

"No shit, it's high school, everyone feels different in school," John said.

"Not like that. It's like mental and emotional shifts while the group I befriended talk," Skull explained.

"It's called being teenagers. But I have noticed small, rapid chemical shifts in your brain during certain times of the day. It is very unusual. I haven't seen anything liked this since..." John trailed off.

"Barbara," Skull finished, "She goes to the school now. You think it's her?"

"No," John answered, "Barbara is able to control herself. This is more uncontrolled."

"Could it be the food?" Skull asked, "I don't even think that shit is edible." John frowned.

"No, I would have been able to pin the stomach as the source. The changes were confined to the brain," John answered, "I'll keep a close eye on the school until we know what this is." Skull nodded. With that, John jumped down into the darkness below without making a sound. Skull followed, and ran away from the warehouses, towards his home.

-Elsewhere, Middleton-

Sebastian walked down a street in Middleton, now donning his street clothes. Sebastian, looking at the scenery, saw a slender figure walking down the other side of the street at a fast pace. As the figure glimpsed over their shoulder, he got a clear look at their face.

"Bonnie?" Sebastian muttered to himself. He kept his current pace, watching her hurried walk. It seemed like she felt she was being followed. Sebastian remembered that he was also walking down the street too and was about to pass it off as nothing when he saw a shadow move on the other side of the street. A figure in a hoodie and jeans stepped out of the shadows and began to close the distance between him and Bonnie. His hands were in his pockets. The figure wore a hoodie and jeans, but Sebastian determined that it was a man based on the physique of the figure. The figure pulled his hands out of his pockets and Sebastian saw that he was wearing gloves and was holding a rag.

Before Sebastian realized what was going on, the figure had closed the distance to Bonnie and wrapped an arm around her chest. Before she could scream, the rag was over her mouth. As she struggled she became weaker and weaker, soon succumbing to the inhalant in the rag. Sebastian started to close the distance in hopes to prevent the obvious kidnapping. But as Sebastian closed the distance, a truck sped up from out of nowhere and stopped in front of the hooded figure and the unconscious Bonnie. Another hooded figure stepped out and greeted the first hooded figure before loading Bonnie on the truck. Sebastian had now almost closed the distance between him and the truck. One of the figures looked to Sebastian running at them.

"Hey, stay away from her assholes!" Sebastian shouted. The second hooded figure got into the truck.

The first hooded figure is handed a B&T MP9 by the second hooded figure. He wastes no time and open fires on Sebastian. Though in a seemingly panicked state, is not very accurate with the weapon, missing nearly every shot. Sebastian then felt the lead tear into his stomach and exit out the back. He continued, taking two more to the stomach. The figure was obviously in a panic now. But one lucky shot tore through Sebastian's knee. He felt it shattered from the impact of the round. As Sebastian, determined to continue, stepped down on the knee, it gave out on him, causing him to topple onto the pavement. At that moment, the gun jammed and the hooded figure tossed it onto the ground and jumped into the truck before it sped off.

Sebastian shakily sat up. He touched the wounds in his gut. He found that they were all through-and-throughs, and missed any major organs. His knee was not so lucky and would take time to heal. He watched as the truck sped away. He sat there thinking about how he could have prevented this if he had acted sooner.

"Shit," Sebastian said to himself.


	7. Chapter 7

**Broken Hero**

**Chapter 7**

Skull stood in a bright, white hallway. He leaned against the wall, arms crossed. He was not wearing his long coat, allowing for his full arm-length gloves to be seen. He stared off into space, the light sound of approaching footsteps and the soft hum of the fluorescent lights overhead were the only sounds throughout the hallway. As the footsteps got close, Skull looked over to see Black Diamond, in suit, walk down the hall. He stops next to Skull. They share a moment of awkward silence.

"You don't have to do this," Black Diamond said, staring straight ahead to avoid eye contact.

"I do. It is the end of an era," Skull replied. Black Diamond then turned his head toward Skull.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"The end of The Heroes, John. Ever since the events that transpired a few years back, Heroes have lost favor in the public opinion. It is our time to fade into history. But I have made a promise that I cannot fulfill that is necessary. That is why this project is necessary," Skull explained.

"What about The Flush?" John asked.

"I do not worry too much about Ace, he is smart and will recognize the situation and go into hiding. Jack went straight years ago. King concerns me. He is an impulsive psychopath. ARMOR will just have to take care of him. Ten can be taken care of easily. He will be one of my final tasks. And, if you remember, Queen retired. She wrote that book and is now famous for burning The Flush members," Skull replied.

"Ah yeah. She also had a kid too awhile back, a daughter. I remember that she came to us to hide her from her world, especially King. So, are you to like together or something? Because she always mentioned you pretty fondly when she visited," John recalled.

"No," Skull stated. John, took a deep breath, and looked at the unmarked door again.

"Well, let's do this," John said, opening the door. Sebastian followed him into the room. In the small room, there were already several men in white lab coats waiting. John gathered them into a circle.

"What you are all about to be apart of, can never leave this room. You all know the punishment if it does," John warned. Skull tuned out of the technical details of the project, though his mind was blank. He usually had some important thought or revelation when he tuned out conversations. He snapped out of his trance as his name was called. He stepped forward.

"John gave you the technical rundown of the project, so the only way to top that is with this," Skull said, removing his mask, "My name is Sebastian Layton, and I am Skull. Welcome to Project Omega."

-Present Day-

-Eastern Europe-

Ten stepped out of the car he rode in. As he closed the door behind him, the ringtone on his phone went off. He pressed the talk button on his earpiece.

"Yea?" He answered the call, "I see. Well, try to keep her alive until I get back this time. You wouldn't want me to cut off your head would you? Good. Now, keep her alive and well-treated. That means as a guest, without the being able to leave part. What do you mean someone saw you? Well, did you take care of him? Sort of? You shot him up but he kept coming? Interesting. No. It's nothing to worry about. I'll put someone on it. Remember, you do your job right, and your wife doesn't become a widow. Alright, I'll be back in a week." Ten hangs up the phone and walks towards the building in front of him.

"Fucking amateurs," Ten said as he was greeted by a woman dressed in green and black formal attire.

"Your henchmen giving you trouble?" she asked.

"No more than usual. You clean up nice," Ten commented.

"Well, you really didn't give me much of a choice. Pointing a gun to my back and calling it freedom, doesn't make it freedom," the woman said cooly.

"My dear, I never held a gun to your back. I never forced you to do anything. I gave you a choice, and both have consequences. The other way just happened to have harsher consequences," Ten said smugly.

"I could fry you in an instant if I wanted to," she stated.

"Not before I activate the chip in your neck that would blow your head clean off. Remember your place. We both have goals, but to achieve them, we must have a mutual respect and trust for each other," Ten calmly stated. Ten glanced around. The woman did the same.

"Why are we even at this fancy party anyways?" she asked.

"All in due time, my dear Shego, all in due time. Now, let's go inside before people start to stare," Ten said, as he ushered Shego inside.

-One Week Later-

-Middleton High School-

Sebastian sat on the bleachers. He was working on the extra homework he was assigned for talking back to Barkin in the middle of class. He looked up from his work. The cheer squad was still practicing even though Bonnie hadn't shown up for the past week. They seemed to do the routines a lot better without her. Sebastian turned back to his homework. It was taking him almost no time to finish it, but he still didn't like the extra work. Though he knew he could avoid it by not talking back to the teacher. He just felt that Barkin irked him by the militaristic treatment of the students. Mocking him was a way that Sebastian felt he could get back at him.

Sebastian heard someone sit down next to him. He looked over hoping to see the one-eyed figure. Instead Monique sat there.

"Somehow I knew I'd find you here," Monique said, giving Sebastian a half smile. Sebastian just turned back to his work. Monique dropped the smile.

"Something is still bothering you," Monique said.

"I'm fine Monique," Sebastian answered, "Just tired." In truth, it was haunting him that it had been a week since Bonnie was kidnapped, but couldn't find any clue as to who took her. Monique watched Sebastian as he stared stone-faced at his work. In the short time she knew Sebastian, she had picked up on when something was bothering him. And, that pressing for answers would cause him to completely shut down emotionally. Monique stood up and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm here if you need to talk," Monique said. She began to walk towards the entrance to the bleachers. Sebastian looked up and watched her walk away. As she was out of sight, Sebastian looked back down at his homework. After staring at it for several seconds, he looked up to the cheer team practicing. Sebastian then packed his work into his backpack and stood up. He quickly exited the bleachers.

-Earlier-

-Elsewhere-

A man with straight, blonde hair, in an expensive suit, stood behind the desk in an office. He looked at a photo in his hands, occasionally glancing up at the park across the street out the window. A few moments later, a man in a doctor's coat opened the door and entered the room. He closed the door behind him. He turned around and froze at the sight of the blonde man.

"You," he barely whispered.

"Long time no see, Doc," the blonde answered, with a metallic voice. The blonde turned around, revealing a suppressed pistol in his right hand. He had a metal mask over his mouth and nose, and metal goggles over his eyes. They were connected to his face. He aimed the pistol towards the doctor and put a round through each knee. The doctor hit the ground without so much as a sound.

"It's better that you don't scream. Because, if you do, I'll kill you right now," the blonde stated, and tossed the picture towards the doctor, "cute family."

"What do you want?" the doctor said, trying to hold the pain in. The blonde walked towards the doctor. He pulled a picture out of his pocket.

"I want to know about one of your patients," the blonde said, he leaned down and held the picture to the doctor, "the redhead." The doctor looked at the picture and his eyes widened.

"Fuck you," he responded. The blonde sighed.

"That's what they all say. 'Fuck you.' Not really original," the blonde said, "How about this. You tell me what I want to know, and I don't kill your family and post a video of it on the internet. Sound like a deal?" The doctor looked at the picture of his family in front of him.

"Okay, as long as you promise not to hurt them," the doctor responded.

"I'm a man of my word," the blonde answered.

"Her name is Kim Possible. She doesn't go here anymore. They transferred all her files to the hospital," the doctor explained.

"And why did they do that?" the blonde asked.

"Her mother is a neurosurgeon there. That's all I know. Please leave my family alone," the doctor answered. The blonde thought on this information for a moment.

"I'm a man of my word," the blonde said. He stood up straight. He held the pistol over the doctor's head and put a bullet in his brain. The blonde then unscrews the suppressor and puts the pistol in a rib holster in his suit. He put the suppressor in his pocket. The blonde looked at the picture.

"I knew there was a resemblance," the blonde said. He put the picture in his other pocket. He picked up the picture of the doctor's family off the floor and put it back in the spot he got it.

"This'll be interesting," he said aloud.

-Later-

-Somewhere in downtown Middleton-

"Anything yet?" Sebastian asked the man on the screen of the phone.

"Not yet," John replied, "Whoever they are, they're careful. There was almost no evidence. Well, better said, the only evidence was all of the bullets they sprayed at you. And the fact that they have shit aiming, doesn't narrow this down any. I'm still analyzing the bullets and will update you when I get the results." The call ended shortly afterwards, and Sebastian stuck the phone in his coat pocket. He was wearing his usual long coat, but no other piece of his outfit. He sat on top of a roof, legs dangling over the edge. He watched the people walk below. When there was a clearing, he jumped. He landed and quickly scrambled for the nearest shadows to avoid being spotted. As soon as he determined that it was safe to come out, he exited the shadows and blended with the people walking by at that moment.

Sebastian watched a man ahead of him, in the crowd. His fingers fiddled with his mask in his coat pocket. As the man walked down an alley ahead, Sebastian gripped the mask and followed down the alley. The man, a gangbanger with loose lips, turned into another alley adjoined to this one and several others. Before rounding the corner, Sebastian pulled the mask out of his pocket and put it over his head. He also grabbed a wooden baseball bat strapped to his hip, hidden by his coat and rounded the corner.

He saw the man cornering a woman against the alley wall. He quickly makes his way towards the man, bat ready to swing. He hits the man on the top of his head, causing him to fall over, allowing the woman to escape. The man backs up into the other alley wall. Arm lazily at his side, Sebastian slowly walked toward the man until he nearly stood over him.

"What do you want?" the man asked, cowering against the wall. Sebastian stared at the man for a moment.

"Information," he said, in an unrecognizable voice. There was a quick, bright flash. Sebastian scanned the area with his eyes, but found nothing. He then noticed he had dropped his bat. He bent down and picked it up. The bat felt heavy at first, but became light quickly. With it, the accompanying wet splat of something hitting the ground. He looked at the end of the bat. It was covered in blood and clumps of hair. Sebastian looked around. There was no sign of the gangbanger, but the walls of the alley were covered in blood. Sebastian slowly removed his mask and put it back in his coat pocket. He looked around the alley again, seeing the same sight.

"What the..?" he questioned. Something wet then fell in front of him. He looked at the object, finding it to be a chunk of flesh. He looked up to the fire escape, where it came from. It was the gangbanger, or at least part of him. The chest cavity stuck through the floor of the fire escape. The rib cage was bent out, sternum missing. Sebastian looked along the fire escape, unable to find any sign of the rest of him.

"Fuck," he muttered, "What the fuck did I do?" Sebastian looked at the bat again, everything sinking in. He then began to run back down the alley from where he came. As he ran, he wiped down the handle of the bat on his coat before tossing it in a trash pile.

"Gotta find answers," Sebastian said to himself as he ran. He knew exactly where to go in that moment.

-Downtown Middleton 8th Precinct-

An older police officer walked down a hallway in the precinct. As he walked down the narrow hallway, the power shut down. The officer looked around him for a moment.

"Shit," he muttered as he pulled out his flashlight. He continued down the hallway and rounded a corner at the end of it. He froze in his tracks. A man with blonde hair, a metal mask over his mouth and nose, and goggles on stood just a few feet in front of him. He wore a sleeveless shirt and had two metallic armbands on each arm, one on his forearm and one on his upper arm. The one on his left forearm appeared to have a touchscreen controller built into it. He held a suppressed pistol in his right hand, pointed at the ground.

"I knew this day would come," the officer said. The blonde man just stared at him.

"So, this is it, huh?" the officer asked. The blonde man just continued to stare at him. The officer thought he had the advantage in the dark, with his flashlight, he could clearly see what the man was doing, and being in complete darkness, the man could not see him. The officer slowly reached for his pistol. He felt his hand slide along the cool polymer grip. He readied to draw and shoot. His thumb ready to flip off the hammer tie-down. As his put his plan into motion and flipped off the hammer tie-down, there were two flashes and the officer twisted and contorted as he fell to the ground.

The blonde man walked over to the officer. The officer breathed shakily and watched the man. The bullets had gone clean through his vest. Something he had worn as much as possible over the years fearing this confrontation. The blonde put a round through the officer's head, splattering his brains and cracking the ground below him. The blonde man walked down the hallway the officer came from. There was the sound of a door opening and shutting. Almost immediately after, the power came back on.

-Barbara's House-

-Suburbs of Middleton-

Barbara slept calmly in her upstairs room. There was not a light on in the house. One of her parents' cars sat in the driveway. A shadowy figure creeped from the closed window towards her bed. Soon it loomed over her sleeping figure. A hand reached out towards her. It comes to rest on her shoulder.

"Barbara," the figure said quietly, gently shaking her. There was no response from the sleeping girl.

"Barbara," the figure repeated, a little louder, and shaking her a little harder. Barbara's eyes jolt open, and she quickly pushed herself away from the figure, and off the other side of her bed.

"Barbara, it's Sebastian," the figure said. Barbara poked her head over the bed, looking hard at the figure.

"Sebastian?" she questioned, her hard look revealed it was him.

"How the fuck did you get in my house?" she whispered angrily.

"Your window," Sebastian replied. Barbara raised an eyebrow at this.

"It locks from the inside and seals shut. I made sure of that. How?" she asked.

"I have my ways," Sebastian replied, half smiling. The smile fell from his face as quickly as it came. Barbara got back up on her bed and motioned for Sebastian to sit next to her.

"So, what's up?" she asked. Sebastian sits down next to her and looks over to her.

"I need a favor," he replied.

-Middleton Space Center-

The masked blonde man walked out of one of the offices, returning his pistol to its holster. He looked at a list of names, several of them are crossed off. He pulled out a pen and crossed another off.

"Six out of seven. One more to go," the blonde man said. He put the list and pen back into his pocket continued on. He opened a door to the lobby to make his way out of the building, expecting no resistance. On the other side of the door is a janitor who was getting ready to open the door himself. The janitor froze in fear of the blonde man.

"Oh, you really should have stayed home today," the blonde man said. He grabbed the man by the throat with one gloved hand and lifted him off the ground with ease. He crushed the janitor's throat, earning the pops as everything, even the vertebrae, are practically mulch. He let the body fall limply to the ground. He stepped over the janitor's body and continued into the lobby.

"I'll have to visit here when I'm not on the job some time. Could be interesting," the blonde man commented out loud. As he walked towards the front door, he saw a brown haired man walking towards it from the outside. The blonde man looked around for another quick escape. Seeing none, he looked up to see a high ceiling.

He pressed the touchscreen on his wrist, activating a velcro-like effect of his gloves. He ran towards the nearest wall. He never broke his stride as he ran a few feet up the wall before slapping a hand onto the wall, gripping it. He quickly scaled the wall until he was sure he was out of sight of the man. Avoiding unnecessary deaths was a top priority of his. In his experience, it would only end badly, and having to kill the janitor was already one mistake too many for his taste.

As the brown haired man walked into the lobby, the blonde man studied him closely. He could see a faint resemblance to someone in the brown haired man. He pressed a few buttons on the touchscreen and it brought up the brown haired man's bio in the HUD in his goggles. He read the name.

'James Timothy Possible'.

He read it again, and again. Something about the name did not sit right with the blonde man. It was something about the name. He then realized it: 'Possible'. The same surname as two other targets of his, Ann and Kim. He read further into the bio.

'Married to Ann Possible. Three Children: Kimberly Ann, and twins Jim and Tim. He watched James walk past the janitor's corpse, not even noticing it. The blonde man smiled under his mask. He watched James enter another door closer to the back of the lobby. When he heard the door close, the blonde man deactivated the gloves and dropped silently to the floor. He looked towards the door James entered.

"Well James, you are sure gonna have a helluva surprise when you come back to the lobby," the blonde said to himself. He then walked to the front door and opened it. He took one last look over his shoulder before leaving the building. He ran towards the fence enclosing the property. He cleared it in almost a single jump.

-The Next Day-

-Bueno Nacho, Middleton-

June sat in the booth farthest from the entrance. She flipped boredly through the open textbook on the table. As the door chime rang, June looked up towards the door. Two guys entered the restaurant, deep in conversation. As she stared at them longer, she began to have a headache. It got worse as she continued to watch them, but she was unable to look away.

She could feel their emotions as if they were written on their foreheads. Many emotions flew around them, but most notably disgust and fear. She wished that she could hear what they were talking about. As if by magic, their voices became as clear as if they were standing right next to her.

"I heard this guy was just some addict, picked at random," one of them said.

"Random? Hardly. I heard they found pieces of him at the back of the alley across the street. Hear anything on what the police are doing about it?" the other said.

"As far as I've heard, they're trying to find any witnesses and if they don't, they're gonna drop the case," The first one replied.

"Seriously? They're not even gonna try to investigate? What's wrong with them?" the other asked.

"They have a full plate on their hands right now. They're looking into the murder of a doctor in his own office earlier this week. And I've heard that a cop was murdered in their own precinct, along with a scientist and janitor at the Middleton Space Center last night. I heard that they think all of these cases are connected, because they were all killed the same way," the first explained.

"No shit? How do you hear about all of this anyways?" the other asked.

"I got connections," the first replied. The conversation faded as the door chime rang again. June looked over to see Monique walk in. June raised an eyebrow at the sight of her here. She did not take Monique to be someone who came here. As Monique walked to the line, June got up and walked over to her. June stood next to Monique silently for a moment, gathering courage to talk to Monique. Before June could say anything, Monique looked over and was startled by the shy girl.

"Oh hey. Didn't see ya there. You're June, right?" Monique said. June simply smiled and nodded in response.

"So, what's up girl?" Monique asked.

"Can I ask you about Sebastian?" June asked in response. Monique gave her a big smile.


	8. Chapter 8

**Broken Hero**

**Chapter 8**

The door slid open to Black Diamond's office. He didn't even look up from paperwork he was so focused on.

"You wanted to see me, sir?" the voice asked.

"Ah yes, come in, quickly," Black Diamond replied. The door swiftly shut behind the one who entered the room. Black Diamond flipped a switch on the underside of his desk. The door locked and blinds closed and locked. Black Diamond signed the bottom of the document and set his pen down. He stood up and walked over to a small table in a corner of the room. He grabbed two shot glasses?

"Whiskey?" he asked holding the decanter.

"I'm a student remember? You know I can't," the figure said.

"Suit yourself," Black Diamond said, pouring one for himself, and placing the decanter back on the table. Black Diamond grabbed his glass and walked back over to his desk and sat on the edge.

"So, how have things progressed? You feel that the programs are adequate?" he asked.

"So far nothing to complain about with the lectures. They seem a tad too easy, there are too many passing grades," the figure said. Black Diamond thought on this. He took a small sip of the whiskey.

"And the other matter?" Black Diamond asked. The figure quickly looked around the room.

"Relax, there's nothing in here but us. No one can hear us and there are no recording devices, Sebastian," Black Diamond said, "Fitting alias by the way. You do look like a Sebastian."

"There were a few possible cases I was working on, until you interrupted me," Sebastian said. Black Diamond took another sip.

"I'm being pressed for results on my investigation from Vallance. So, I'm putting the pressure on you," Black Diamond retorted, "Well, who do you think the traitor is? The most probable of the cases. Remember, their lives depend on your decision." Sebastian sighed, deciding on which of his classmates he'd give up based on incomplete data.

"After careful consideration, I have found that the person most likely to be a Soviet is…" Sebastian paused and thought once more on his decision. Black Diamond gave a half smile. He did not know how a Soviet spy infiltrated the trainees, but he knew he was about to find out who.

"Special Agent Betty Director," Sebastian finally said. Black Diamond's smile fell. He slowly set the glass on the table.

"A full fledged agent is the Soviet?" Black Diamond asked.

"From what I've gathered, yes, she is," Sebastian replied. Black Diamond slowly stood up and walked over to a file cabinet. He put the key in the lock and opened the drawer marked "D-F". He found Special Agent Director's name and grabbed her folder. He opened it and looked through each document.

"I can't believe this. Are you sure?" Black Diamond asked.

"I'm sure. It explains why the communications are always five minutes late on her missions. But, I also think that her mission coordinator is a sympathizer. It is the only explanation on how she got some many missions to go undercover in the Soviet Union. Sorry, I knew how you felt about her," Sebastian explained. Black Diamond dropped Special Agent Director's file on his desk.

"I'll start the Process right away. Good work Sebastian. You can finish out the week and end the operation...or continue and see where your other cases take you," Black Diamond said solemnly, "You may leave." Sebastian nodded and turned to leave the room. Black Diamond flipped the switch under his desk and the room returned to as it was before. The door opened and Sebastian walked out.

Black Diamond sat at his desk, staring at the paperwork in front of him. He looked at the whiskey still sitting on his desk. He grabbed the glass and drank the rest of it. He then got up and walked over to the table, grabbed the decanter, opened it, and chugged the whiskey in there. He then removed his suit jacket and tossed it on his chair. He undid the buttons on the sleeves of his undershirt and rolled up the sleeves, revealing tattooed forearms. He gripped the ponytail of his long hair and grabbed his knife from his ankle holster. He cut the hair right above the ponytail and tossed the loose hair in the trashcan nearby. The shorter hair fell forward, just grazing his collar. He placed the knife back into it's holster.

He walked over to the desk and grabbed the papers he was working on before Sebastian entered the room. Coincidentally, they were the report of Special Agent Director's most recent mission. He tore the thick stack of papers in half and then in half again before finally tossing the paper in the trash. He grabbed Special Agent Director's file and tossed it in the trash as well. He walked over to the table in the corner and opened the cabinet underneath it. He grabbed a bottle of whiskey from it and opened it. He dumped it's contents into the trashcan and tossed the empty bottle against a wall. He pulled a lighter out of his pocket and lit it. He stared into the flame for a moment before dropping it into the trashcan. The whiskey went up immediately. He watched as the documents turned into nothing but ash.

He could feel something inside of him building. It kept building and building. Soon it reached its peak. Black Diamond threw his head up towards the sky and let out a primal roar.

-Present Day-

-Warehouse, Industrial District, Middleton-

A bright light was flipped on, illuminating the room. It was a mostly empty room. There were a few furnishings, a bed, portable sink, a fancy rug in the middle of the room. The wall recently received a new coat of paint. The metal door opened with a creak. Two thugs in hoodies dragged an unconscious Bonnie into the room and tossed her in front of them. One of them pointed at her and made a motion. The other nodded and walked over to her. The thug pulled a pen out of his pocket and removed the ink cartridge. He gripped the sides of her neck and stabbed the empty pen almost completely in. The thug pulled the pen out and put it back into his pocket. The thug left the room, the other swiftly following, locking the door behind them.

Several hours later, Bonnie awoke on the cold stone floor. She sat up and looked around at the room. It smelled of rotten meat and air freshener. Her hands were tied with zip ties in front of her. She felt pain pierce through her throat and reached to touch the source. She felt the hole from the pen. There was movement behind the door. Bonnie tried to call to whoever it was, to figure out what the hell happened and to complain about the room. But as she tried to speak, only air came out. No words were formed. The more she tried, the more her throat hurt. She would never admit this, but it scared her. It took away a valuable tool she used to stay on top of the school food chain. Being unable to control the situation with her voice was terrifying to her.

The metal door opened. A rather large man in a white mask accompanied by armed thugs entered the room. She heard the voice of a woman just outside the room. The large man in the mask walked over and crouched down next to her.

"Hello, my name is Ten. And welcome to your new home. Behave and I won't have to take drastic measures against you," the man known as Ten said. Bonnie responded by taking a bite at his upper arm. The muscle she gripped in her teeth squirmed to get free. Ten tried to pull her off, but she just bit down harder, maintaining her grip. She felt something pop under her lock on Ten's arm. Blood dripped onto her tongue. As Ten frantically struggled, blood poured faster into the brunette's mouth.

Ten then placed a hand on Bonnie's head, and ripped his arm from her mouth, taking a sizeable chunk of flesh with it. Ten gripped his wounded arm. He removed his hand from the wound to inspect the damage. Bonnie could only assume his eyes went wide at the injury.

"You stupid bitch!" he screamed, backhanding Bonnie across her face, sending her to the floor and causing her to spit out the chunk of his arm she tore out. Bonnie tried to sit up, but was denied that with another backhand to the jaw.

"You liked the taste of that didn't ya?" Ten said, squeezing blood from the wound onto his hand, "Here, have some more." He shoved the bloodied hand into Bonnie's face, smearing the blood around. Ten then grabbed the discarded chunk of his flesh. He forced Bonnie's mouth open.

"You won't get any pudding if you don't finish your meat," Ten said chuckling maniacally at his words. He shoved the flesh into her mouth and forced it shut. At the same moment, Bonnie was swallowing and lump of saliva, causing her to swallow the chunk of flesh. Ten let go of her mouth. After a moment, Bonnie realized what she swallowed. She began to try to throw it up.

Ten stood up and the thugs rushed over to him with medical supplies. Bonnie took this opportunity to try to crawl away. Ten saw this and waved off the thugs. He slowly walked up to Bonnie. He grabbed her ankle and pulled her toward him. He delivered a punch across her face, causing a bloody nose. Ten looked around the room, he then looked up towards the high ceiling.

"Tie her hands behind her back and chain her to the ceiling. I'll deal with my arm," Ten commanded, grabbing the supplies from the thugs, "I'm going to give you a while to think about what you did. When I come back, you better be a changed person." Ten left the room and the thugs moved to follow their orders.

-Bonnie's Point of View-

I could only watch as the thugs cut the ties to my hands and re-tied them behind my back. One of the thugs turned a crank and lowered a chain from the ceiling. My hands were placed around the hook. The hook and chain were retracted back until my toes were barely touching the ground. Apparently they did not know I was a cheerleader. When they left, I would just use those skills to escape this.

One of the thugs pulled a needle and small bottle out of one of his pockets. He filled the needle with a dull yellow liquid. He then stuck the needle in my arm and emptied the liquid into it. After a few seconds, I began to feel woozy. Soon my legs and arms began to go limp. My thoughts become hazy. I can't form a complete sentence in my brain. My vision becomes fuzzy. My eyes feel heavy. The thugs leave the room.

I notice a clock on one of the walls. I can't read it though.

After what seems like hours, Ten returned. He wore no mask this time. He leaned in next to me. He said something but I can't comprehend it. He smiles before leaving the room again. More hours pass.

Ten returned again. He walked over to a corner of the room this time. He leaves the room again. This time he carried a couple large bags with something white in them. More time passed.

The thugs returned with a tan liquid in an IV bag. They shove a tube down my throat. I slowly drink the liquid to keep from drowning. I can't taste anything. When the bag is empty, the thugs pull the tube and leave the room. A longer period of time passed. The effects of whatever they gave me began to wear off. I felt the pain from my shoulders from hanging like I was. I was able to stand, but barely.

When the thugs came in and saw me attempting to stand up fully, they lowered the hook and chain and held me up on my feet. They walked me around and let me use the restroom.

More time had passed then I had thought. Two whole days. I was apparently unconscious for part of it.

I was eventually brought back to the room and tied to the hook again. They gave me another full dose of, what I could only assume was, some kind of muscle relaxant. As I kneeled there, I watched the clock. Occasionally, one or both of the hands would jump forward.

Ten occasionally returned to check on me. I did not know what he expected with having me here. He mostly only entered the room to grab bags what I assume was cocaine. Other times he'd come in here to beat up a thug one reason or another. I was mainly ignored.

After a few weeks, they started to give me less of a dose, and some of the thugs would talk to me when no one was around. I found out that most were volunteers who dropped out of high school and couldn't find jobs. Others could only get a job as a thug here due to past convictions for things such as being arrested for DUIs.

This may be the drug talking, but the more I stayed here, the more they pumped the drug into me, the more I cared about the guys who work for the mobster.

Then, everything changed when HE showed up.

One of the days that Ten checked on me, I was a lot less fuzzy in the head. Another masked man entered the room, escorted by his own set of thugs. These thugs gave off an air of evil. I could see it on those who worked for Ten. Everyone was threatened by this newcomer, everyone except Ten. The man in question wore a long, red and black coat, red and black gloves, boots, and a white mask. His hair was a shoulder length golden blonde, curled up at the shoulders.

Ten greeted the man with a handshake. They began a conversation. But it soon took a turn for the worse, when the newcomer began to yell at Ten. Ten yelled back. That is when the newcomer hit Ten, square in the face. Ten tried to retaliate, but the newcomer was a lot faster than Ten. He punched Ten in the face again, dropping him to the floor. I could see cracks in Ten's mask, blood dribbled from the cracks. The thugs of the newcomer had drawn their weapons. Those working for Ten could only cower in fear of being cut down, or worse.

Ten tried to stand again, but the newcomer delivered a swift kick to his face. There was a loud crack. Ten's mask shattered to pieces as he hit the floor again. Blood now flowed freely from Ten's face. Before Ten could even move, the newcomer stomped his foot into Ten's back. There was a wet crack from this. Ten spit the crimson liquid onto the floor. The newcomer then noticed me. He slowly walked over as Ten writhed in pain on the floor.

He knelt down in front of me. I spotted a tattoo of the King playing card on his neck. I decided that that was probably his name as Ten used the name of the Ten playing card. I lowered my head as he looked at me. My clothes weren't fresh. They were the same clothes I had arrived in. They had become torn over the few weeks, though not torn badly. After King had looked me over, he placed a gloved hand gently on my chin and tilted my head up.

Only being able to see his eyes, I was at a loss at what he was thinking at the moment. After a few moments, he moved his hand from my chin. He caressed my cheek. I could never forget what he said.

"So beautiful. So young. It's almost a shame of what's about to happen to you."

With that, he stood and walked back towards Ten. I had no idea what he had meant, but it would not leave me alone. He stopped as Ten grabbed ahold of his ankle. I could barely make out what was said next.  
>"Get your fucking hands off of me," King said calmly. Ten slowly complied. As soon as his hands were free, King kicked Ten directly in the face again, causing Ten's head to snap back, and then forward to break his nose on the ground.<p>

King calmly walked out of the room, followed by his thugs.

I felt my eyes begin to close. And the next thing I knew, I was alone in the room. My head no longer felt fuzzy and I had full control of my limbs. I tried to call out to let someone that I was up, but I remembered that I couldn't speak because of a hole in my throat. I stood and stretched the best I could. As if on queue, the door opened. When I looked over, I immediately knew there was a problem. They were different thugs than those who normally came in. As they got closer, one of them grabbed me. I tried to fight back, to no avail. He shoved me down and the other stuck the syringe in me. Soon enough, I could feel the drug kicking in. There were some loud noises outside somewhere. And an alarm, maybe. The thugs ran out of the room.

When I next opened my eyes, I was in a different warehouse entirely. As my head was clearer, I was taken to the bathroom. On the way back, I was walked by a room Ten was in. He had a glass pipe in his hand with white smoke coming from it. He was babbling about being set up. I couldn't hear much else as I was being hurried back to my room. I was again chained and more drug was administered.

The next time I awoke, Ten was in the room as well. He had his back turned to me and was working on something. I unintentionally shifted, making a noise that attracted Ten's attention. As he turned, I stared at his bloody mask, which had obviously been glued back together. He walked over to me and crouched down. His eyes were overly bloodshot. Every so often, his head twitched slightly. His breathing was irregular, twitchy. The smell of the smoke drifting off of his body filled my nose.

I watched as his eyes drifted over my body, a high induced lust filled his eyes. His hands moved towards me. I moved away as fast as I could. He growls and grabs my shirt. Next thing I feel is pain across my face. He had hit me. I tasted blood from where I bit my cheek with the hit. I was pushed and my legs came out from under me. The chain that held me upright now dug into my back, as I practically laid on it.

"Quarter Dose," Ten said. I felt the syringe stab into my arm, the liquid drug pumped into me. I began to lose control of my limbs. I was wide awake and could still feel everything, but I couldn't move. He slowly moved his hand slowly towards me again. It came to rest on my breast. Slowly, his hand began to caress my breast, before his other hand joined in on my other breast. I tried my best to get away from him. My body would not follow my commands. I was freaking out as he continued to touch me, and I could not stop him. I couldn't move and I couldn't scream. This was hell, if there ever was one.

He became more touchy-feely. His hand shifted further down on my body. They stopped at my waistline. His hands shook as he fumbled to undo my pants. But, it still was not long before he had undid the button and unzip my pants. My pants were pulled around my ankles, revealing the violet panties I was wearing. Those were quickly removed as well. The next thing I knew, he had two fingers inside of me.

As he molested me, my body began to betray me. My mind fought my body. Ten droned on for what seemed like hours, before the sweet relief of him removing his fingers. I began to regain control of my body. I started to collect my thoughts. There had to be a way out of this, I just knew it. I was so wrong.

My thoughts were interrupted by a large spike of pain. My mind was clouding once more. I slowly looked to the source of pain. To my horror, Ten was inside me. Though I would never admit it to anyone ever, I was still a virgin. In this moment to reflect upon it, it was still the only thing that I held on to as a piece of a better time as a young kid. Upholding the "status quo" was a mentality drilled into my head at a young age by my sisters. It was something I always hated, but as time went on, I fell in line with. Something that gave way to a childish rivalry with Kim. I didn't want to believe I had become the one thing I have always dreaded, my sisters. I wanted to believe somewhere, deep inside, was a nice person, the real Bonnie.

I was jarred out of my thoughts as I felt Ten thrust in and out of me. I wanted to scream, but all I could manage was a small tear rolling down my cheek. Ten continued without seemingly any end in sight. I was helpless, wishing for some hero to burst into the room at any moment and save me. As time dragged on, I knew no one would arrive. I could only sit here as my head became filled with a variety of thoughts. I welcomed them as a distraction to my current predicament. Tears flowed more freely now. I just wanted nothing more to wake up from this nightmare. But I knew that I was awake and this was real. I felt a warm liquid pour into me. If my eye could widen, they would be dinner plates now.

Ten slouched over for a moment's rest before pulling out of me. He redressed himself and stood. I was glad it was over. I felt extremely dirty. I just wanted to crawl into a corner and into fetal position and let death take me away. But, I knew this was just the beginning. I felt myself begin to slip into unconsciousness. Before I passed out, I saw the face of a one-eyed figure grin evilly at me.

-A Few Weeks Later-

-Industrial District, Go City-

The convoy of black, unmarked vans sped down the street. Agent's of ARMOR filled each one. Skull sat among the agents in one of the trucks.

"Ten's warehouse is up ahead. One minute," came the voice over the radios. Skull watched as the agent prepared their weapons and themselves. While Skull did not think Ten was as much of a threat as someone like King, he was unpredictable, so it was better to be prepared for anything. Skull loaded an M9 and placed it in his armpit holster, usually reserved for a grappling gun.

"Alright, we're not here to take hostages. Kill all of Ten's forces. And if you can, takedown Ten as well. No one escapes today," Skull spoke into his headset, "and Remember, we are dealing with Ten, watch out for booby traps."

"Half a minute. Get ready," came the voice. Skull took a deep breath. The van came to a sudden stop. The doors to the vans opened, and agents poured out and took their positions. Skull quickly followed the agents in his van.

"When you're ready, you are cleared for entry," Skull said.

"Copy that," the Squad Leaders responded. Skull found a solid brick wall and easily scaled it. He opened one of the roof's vent covers and climbed in. As he crawled through the tunnels, he turned off his radio. As Skull crawled over a vent, he could see Ten's thugs preparing to repel the assault. Soon Skull heard the door rammed open and the sound of the agents' voices, along with scattered gunfire. Skull wanted to help the agents on their mission, but he had another of his own. He would not let Ten escape again with his hostage.

Skull stopped in the vent to look at the blueprints of the warehouse on his touchscreen phone. He saw there was a stairwell going down nearby. Skull found the nearest vent and waited until he was sure it was clear before jumping down. He found the doorway was not far from the vent, though it was locked. Skull quickly looked around before kicking the door in. He entered the stairwell to find it to be a spiral stairwell. Skull smirked, looking over the edge. He estimated it to be about a five story drop. Skull began to hear voices from the hallway. He vaulted over the railing. As he hit the ground, he rolled and grabbed a thug guarding the stairway. Skull swiftly put a knife through the thug's neck before he could scream.

Skull looked up to see another thug frozen, mid-stride, staring at the vigilante that dropped in out of nowhere. Skull pulled the blade out of the neck of the dead thug, gripping the blade between his fingers. He threw the knife at the other thug, striking him, blade first, between the eyes. Skull then slowly stood, checking to ensure there were no more guards in the hallway. Satisfied, Skull began his walk down the long hallway to the door at the other end.

As he reached the door at the other end of the hall, Skull pulled out his boot knife, knowing very well that Ten could be in there. Skull slowly opened the door and entered the room. It was barren aside from a single figure, a girl, in the room. He slowly approached the girl. Her face was tilted towards the ground. Her body was suspended in a painful way off the ground, chain hung down from the ceiling, her hands cuffed together. As he approached her, she did not stir. He thought she was dead at first. Upon reaching her, he saw that she drew very shallow breaths.

Skull grabbed the chain to get her out, she stirred. Skull froze in place, apprehensive in his movements. Her movements grew greater. Skull immediately knew she was being drugged. It was an drug ARMOR used with exceptionally violent prisoners. One that was frequently stolen by other prisoners in prisons that ARMOR sold the drug to.

As the girl looked up, Skull recognized her face.

"Bonnie!?" he said, surprised. The girl, Bonnie, was a mess. Her hair had grown long, unkempt, and greasy. Her clothing was torn and exceptionally dirty. She was clearly malnourished and looked as though she had not gotten any sleep for weeks. She had a round scar on her neck.

As Bonnie's world came into focus, she came face to face with the man in front of her. But it was no man, but a demon. A living skeleton with clothes and a translucent shadow outlining a human face. She recoiled and tried to scream, though no sound came out. She scrambled away from the creature. It tilted its head as she struggled on her jelly-like legs. And even when she could not move backwards anymore, away from it, she still tried to push away with her legs. It slowly reached out for her with a bony hand. Bonnie was frozen with fear as the hand touched her cheek.

She tried to shake the hand off. It immediately recoiled at her fit. The shadow around the skeleton solidified as it reached below its collar. It pulled the shadow off to reveal a human underneath.

"It's me," the human said, "It's Sebastian. I finally found you." Bonnie stopped her fit, recognising her classmate.

"I'm here to take you home," he said. He then stood and pulled out his phone. He pressed a few things on it. He twisted the power knob on his radio and grabbed his headset from his pocket. He pressed a button on the headset and put it on.

"This is Skull, I need a medic at my marked location," he spoke into the mic.

"Copy that," was the response. Sebastian then walked over to Bonnie, his knife still drawn. He pressed the hell-steel to the cuffs and cut through them like butter. Sebastian holstered the knife before sitting down near the girl.

After a few minutes, two medics arrived. Sebastian stood and greeted them, before giving them a rundown of the situation. They helped Bonnie up and swiftly left the room. Sebastian followed behind shortly, pulling the knife from the thug in the hallway's head. As they were up the stairs, Sebastian watched several agents carry body bags past them.

"Sir, we've found Ten, you may want to see this," came the voice over the radio. Sebastian nodded towards the medics before pulling out his phone and heading for the marked location.

Upon arriving, Sebastian was greeted by several agents standing at attention outside of a door. Sebastian walked past them and into the room. He was greeted by the sight of more agents standing at attention around the room and a man unconscious in his chair. A glass pipe sat on the table, white smoke trailed from it. A mask, that looked as though it had been shattered before being glued back together, lay on the table. There was also a pool of blood and hunk of meat with a mechanical device in it on the table. Sebastian immediately picked up the hunk of meat and examined it.

"Our scanners indicate it came from the neck of one known as Shego. She was released from prison almost three months ago. The object imbedded in the flesh is an explosive. It had been deactivated before we got here and by the blood on the table, and the condition of the flesh, it appears it came out a little over twenty four hours ago," an agent explained. Sebastian set it down and moved to the unconscious Ten.

"What shall we do with him, sir?" another agent asked. Sebastian thought for a moment.

"Throw him in the deepest, darkest prison you have," Sebastian replied.

"Yessir," the agent responded. The agents then prepared to transport him out of the warehouse.

-King's Hideout-

-Middleton-

A man in a suit walked into King's office. He was King's newest advisor.

"Sir, ARMOR has assaulted Ten's warehouse and have taken him into custody," the advisor announced.

"Excellent," King responded, "Everything is going according to plan."

"You shall you have me do?" the advisor asked.

"Have our man on the inside kill Ten in his cell in three weeks. Make it look like the fucker hanged himself," King responded.

"It will be done, sir," the advisor said, quickly leaving. King turned around in his chair to look out the window at the night scene the city below provided. King smiled behind his mask.

"This will show that fucker that you don't fuck me like that. And this will be a lesson to those that ever think about crossing me," King said seemingly to himself, "See to it that Ten will suffer when he is with you in three weeks." A figure stepped out of the shadows. It only had one eye, with the side of its head torn open.

"You can count on it," the figure said before disappearing into the shadows again.

-One Day Later-

-Middleton Medical Center-

Sebastian entered Bonnie's room. Noticing she was asleep, Sebastian sat in the chair in front of the bed and set a small bag down next to him. Sebastian just sat and watched her for the next hour and a half as she slept. Sebastian knew that she might not even wake up today, after what she was put through. But to his surprise, Bonnie's eyes slowly opened. She stared at him, and he stared back. Sebastian slightly smiled.

"Good morning sleepy head," he said, attempting to not look unsympathetic. Bonnie just stared at him.

"Can't talk?" he asked. Bonnie shook her head.

"That's what I thought. It seems your captors poked a hole in your neck. You won't be able to talk for awhile, or maybe even ever," Sebastian said. A sad look crossed Bonnie's face.

"Oh, I almost forgot, I brought you something," Sebastian said, grabbing the bag and walking over to Bonnie, "Now, I know it's not flowers or a "Get Well Soon" card. But this will help with the whole, "Not being able to talk" thing." He pulled a touchscreen, phone-like device out of his bag.

"When you want to say something, just type it in, and press the little button," Sebastian said, turning the Text-to-Speech device on and demonstrating it.

"And you shouldn't need to worry about charging it for about a year and a half, even if you leave it on for the whole time," Sebastian said, handing her the device. Bonnie typed on the device.

"Thank you," she said. Sebastian smiled.

"Where is everyone?" Bonnie asked.

"I decided it would be best to let you rest for awhile without anyone pressing you for answers or stressing you out. You've been through a lot over the past two and a half months," he answered.

"Oh. I was gone for that long?" she asked.

"Yeah," Sebastian answered. An awkward silence overcame them. After a short while, Sebastian broke the silence.

"I'm sure you wish to sleep more. I'll come back and check on you again tomorrow," he said.

"Wait," Bonnie said, "Please stay. What if they find me?" Sebastian opened his mouth before quickly closing it. In his attempt to be more human, he could not just leave now.

"I'll stay as long as you want me to. I'll be in the chair over here," Sebastian said, sitting down in the chair he added, "I can see the whole room from here. I won't let anything happen to you."

"Thank you," Bonnie said. Sebastian could tell that the way Bonnie was was not temporary, the entirety of who she was had changed.

-Elsewhere-

Dr. Director entered the dimly lit office of John. He stood, staring out the window at the city around him. Dr. Director could not help but see the similarities between his stance now and Vallance's stance when he broke into her office a few months back.

"The armed soldiers was really unnecessary," she said.

"Old habits die hard. Something to drink?" John asked.

"No thanks," she replied. John turned from his stance. He had a false smile upon his face, drink in hand. He walked over to a table in the corner of the room and set the drink down.

"So, how was the trip?" he casually asked. He walked back over to his desk.

"You mean aside from the armed escort?" she sarcastically asked. John smirked at this.

"It seems as though our paths are crossing more and more lately, Betty," John remarked.

"It seems like it. I got a visit from your boss, Vallance, a few months back," Betty retorted. John frowned at this.

"You and I both know he is no longer a part of ARMOR. Not since I took over," John said.

"So, why have you brought me here?" Betty asked, getting annoyed. Again John smirked.

"Straight to the point as always. I commend that," John said, pulling a clear container with the micro-explosive and hunk of flesh from a drawer in the desk. Betty's face twisted a little at the sight. She had not seen much gore since leaving ARMOR, so she was not very used to the sight anymore.

"A hunk of flesh?" she asked, confused.

"With a micro plastic explosive embedded in it," John explained, "we found it on a table when we raided Ten's warehouse in Go City." Betty studied it a short while more.

"And why does this concern me?" she asked, now fully annoyed with John.

"The flesh belongs to one Shego. You may know her," John said.

"Shego?" Betty was just flat-out confused now.

"Yes. Our analysis indicates that this was surgically embedded in her neck, and later torn out by her. You see, there are a few gaps in our recent bust of Ten. And as the chip was found in Ten's warehouse on the day we busted him, I was wondering if you had seen her so that we may ask her to fill in the gaps," John explained. He sat down at his desk.

"Ask her to fill in the gaps? She escaped from prison. When I find her, she is going right back in," Betty retorted.

"So you haven't seen her. Her prison sentence was commuted and she was released. As far as the law is concerned, she's a free woman," John said. Betty slapped her hand onto the desk. John looked to the hand and then to her.

"She will mess up again," Betty said, staring coldly at John.

"And when she does, you'll be there to put her back in prison," John said, half smiling, "And we'll be there to gather the information we need."

"So, you're just gonna sweep my legs out from under me like just like that!? What happened to professional courtesy!?" Betty fumed. John sighed.

"Thing do tend to work this way, don't they?" John droned on, "Sometimes I wish things could be like they were before. So, black and white. Before that many regretful decisions I've made. Decisions that drive me mad. Haunt me." Betty's stern look began to falter as he continued his depressed ramblings. A strong smell of alcohol lingered on him. She knew he was a drinker, but did not think of him as an alcoholic.

"Like branding me a Soviet?" Betty asked, curious as to where he was going with this. John looked up with sorrow in his eye.

"I just want you to know that I always regretted that. It should have been so clear that Vallance was the Soviet. I have no excuse for my actions," John said, placing his hand on her's that still resided on the desk, "Sometimes I wonder what may have happened if things took a different turn." Betty could not help but feel sorry for him. At the time she had thought that burning her as a Soviet ruined her life. But, as she saw, ARMOR was more corrupt than those it vowed to stop. Something that subsided when John took over. She knew what was going through his mind and why. The feeling of futility, that the world around him was collapsing. It was how she felt when she was burned.

She observed John's fall from a distance. There was a break-in at ARMOR Headquarters a few months back, though nothing was taken. What had happened was all over the news. A briefcase nuke had gone off inside of the headquarters a few weeks later. Over two thousand in the area were killed. A few weeks back, it was announced that ARMOR was being shut down, permanently. They were given two months leniency to destroy everything. Betty could not help but shed a tear.

"If there's anything you need. A job. A place to stay. Anything. Just say so," she said. John nodded softly.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'll be fine," John replied, "Thank you for the times we shared. They meant a lot to me." Betty nodded.  
>"You welcome," she said.<p>

"You may go," John said, gesturing towards the door. Betty nodded and walked to the door.

"See you later," she said.

"Yeah," John replied. Betty exited the room. When he was sure she was gone, John opened the top drawer in his desk and pulled out a handgun. He placed the barrel to his lips and cocked the hammer. He then opened his mouth, allowing the barrel to slide in. He rested his finger on the trigger and took a deep breath.

Betty stood silently outside the door to John's office, her back pressed to the door. She listened intently for what was happening in the room. She tilted her head, tears formed in her eyes. She then heard the sound she dreaded, a loud pop and then the sound of something heavy and metal hitting the floor. She sunk down against the door, allowing her tears to flow freely.

-The Next Day-

-Lunch, Middleton High School-

Sebastian sat at lunch with Monique and Barbara. Kim and Ron had run off to save the world from DNAmy. Monique and Barbara were engaged in conversation. Sebastian stared at his plate, mind on the assault on Ten's warehouse.

"Hey, Earth to Sebastian, you in there?" Monique asked, snapping Sebastian out of his thoughts.

"What?" he quickly asked. Barbara chuckled at his confusion.

"You are more out of it than usual today. You thinking about what happened with the place you were interning...exploding?" Monique asked. Sebastian shook his head.

"No, I've just been...off today, that's all," Sebastian said. Before anyone else spoke, Dr. Director entered the room, wearing a t-shirt and jeans. She quickly spotted the table Sebastian sat at and approached it. Everyone at the table stared at her in confusion.

"Dr. Director, what are you doing here? And in jeans and a t-shirt no less?" Sebastian asked the woman.

"So he doesn't know yet," she said to herself, though not realizing it was said out loud.

"What don't I know?" Sebastian inquired, "And why the hell are you here? If it's about Kim and Ron, a call would have sufficed."

"It's not about Kimberly or Ronald. I felt that I should be the first one to tell you," Betty replied. Sebastian was now annoyed.

"Tell me what?" he asked. Betty took a deep breath.

"John is dead."


End file.
